Seeker
by GRINtelligencer
Summary: Sequel to Hunter, set two years afterward. Suddenly Kurama is missing, dead people won’t stay dead, and normal doesn’t last long. Kurama needs a rescue, but can Yusuke, Hiei, Kuwabara, and few old friends get there in time? Maybe...
1. Too Many Hints, Not Enough Answers

**Seeker **

Dane Soar

This story is a sequel of 'Hunter' coming two years after the other. It would make much more sense if you read 'Hunter' first but you could conceivably start here, if you're the impatient type. This chapter is much longer than I plan to make the others, I was working up to a certain point.

I hope you enjoy the story, please review.

**Prologue**

**--------------------------------------------**

**America **

**New York**

**Exact Location Unspecified**

**Time Unspecified**

----------------------------------------------

Shuichi Minamino vanished without trace approximately five o'clock on a Friday afternoon.

But this is a little too far along in the story to start. Truly it starts about three months earlier.

**--------------------------------------------**

**Makai**

**Lower Regions**

**Hidden Laboratory**

**Three Months Ago**

**--------------------------------------------**

Some might say that calling themselves gods when they are mortal is sacrilegious but Kami wasn't about to care about trivial things like that. But why not, when one's power is so great, she reasoned.

And she was human enough, or had been, before she had come into her power.

Giving herself that name and taking up her practice had driven all other psychics away, not that she cared, her work quickly consumed her completely.

Kami the necromancer was working on her greatest project since she had begun her craft, bringing back this demon to life would be the pinnacle of her achievement, her greatest triumph ever. Bringing back humans, or lower level demons for that matter, wasn't very hard but the higher level ones had been proving a challenge.

For the most part they simply didn't resurrect, or died soon after they came back, once she had had a partial triumph but the demon had been powerless. She had turned it out not much later, there was no need to keep a failed experiment.

But this demon, oh this demon would be different, she was positive she had finally found one with the right amount of power and will to be alive once more. This time Kami had done her homework before attempting any experiments.

It would work, she knew.

And now, with all her power poured in, all the correct switches thrown, the voltage flowing Kami waited with baited breath, watching the corpse.

The eyelids fluttered and slowly, slow enough to be agonizing, opened.

She threw her arms up in glee, laughing, cackling, turning circles, quoting her favorite line from Frankenstein over and over again. "It lives! Ha ha! It _lives_!"

While the necromancer was busy with her revelry, the demon sat up, moving a hand in front of his face. He curled his fingers and uncurled them, watching the process with evident interest.

Then he smiled and his purple eyes glinted in the light of the sparks of excess electricity.

Not much later, the laboratory exploded.

**--------------------------------------------**

**Spirit World**

**Koenma's Office**

**Three Months Before The Disappearance**

**--------------------------------------------**

With a sigh, Koenma lowered the papers he had just read back onto his desk. "And the souls are gone from its resting place?"

Botan nodded. "I checked it myself. Kami the necromancer was very skilled in her work before she was killed."

"And you're sure she's dead?"

"Yes, the ferry girl who picked her up came right to me with the news. She told me the name of the demon that killed Kami exactly."

Again Koenma sighed. "Well, this is a bad situation. If we can't contain it, we'll have to warn him, but lets not let the fox out of the bag yet. The _last_ thing Kurama needs to know right now is that Karasu alive."

**--------------------------------------------**

**Makai**

**Borderlands**

**Shabby Bar**

**One Month Before The Disappearance**

**--------------------------------------------**

That same demon approached the other resurrected by the now dead Kami in the dilapidated bar and sat down by him. There was no response from the first demon; he sat hunched over his drink with the rapped attention only possible for one who truly wishes to be ignorant of the world.

"Well, well, well," said the first demon. "so far the great Suzaku of the Four Saint Beasts has fallen."

The demon stirred some at the mention of his name, he looked at the other for the first time. "…what? …who are you? What do you want?"

"I want to offer you a proposition," said the other demon.

Sparks played over a long red strand of hair as Suzaku glared at the purple-eyed demon. "Oh really, and what do _you_ want me to do and why should I do it?"

"I see Kami was wrong in her journals, you did regain your power, I stole them before I destroyed her."

"Kami is dead?"

"Yes."

"And you killed her?"

"Yes."

Suzaku smiled. "What is your proposition, friend?

"You must remember the team of Spirit Detectives that destroyed you and your kin. One of them killed me. Now that I am back again, I wish to slay him. I trust you will help me in this venture."

More sparks sizzled around the red antenna flickering to the other and back as Suzaku's smile widened. "Of course I will. Which one has incurred your wrath?"

"Come," the demon inclined his head toward the door and together they left. As they passed into the outside the demon reached into an inner pocket and withdrew out a half-mask, placing it on, Suzaku drew the hood of his cloak up.

"You didn't answer my question," Suzaku said. "Which of the four do you want to kill?"

"The redhead. Kurama."

Chapter 1** Too Many Hints, Not Enough Answers**

**--------------------------------------------**

**America**

**New York**

**Unmarked Car**

**Two Days Before The Disappearance**

**--------------------------------------------**

"You know," said Rachel 'Ricky' Halash, taking a large bite of a donut. "we are a walking cliché at the moment."

Kurama shrugged. "Not really, if you think about it. In the first place, we're detectives, not uniforms and there's no real stereotype for detectives and donuts and second we're sitting not walking. We've been sitting for _hours_." he sighed glancing out the windshield at the street. "You know, I think most of this job is sitting around waiting for people to turn up."

His partner laughed. "Be glad we're doing that and not something more exciting like getting shot at. I hate getting shot." Ricky reached for coffee washing the last of donut down. "Guess what I did last night."

"I don't want to know." Kurama said quickly and really didn't, Ricky's love life was something she could, and would, elaborate for hours on her amorous acts. Whatever she and her girlfriend had done last night, he really didn't want to know.

"Oh come on, Chi," not a lot of people on this side of the ocean could properly pronounce Shuichi, Ricky had take the liberty of shortening his name, he still winced on hearing it. "live a little, besides you'll be interested."

"Alright, sure. I'll bite," he chose a regular donut just for the sake of having something do while he listened.

"Well we went out to Greenie's, you know the bar," Kurama did know, he often met informants there, those of less than human nature. "or at least, we wanted to go out to Greenie's, it's not there anymore."

"What do you mean by that?"

"It blew up. Before we got there luckily, but when we arrived, bits were still smoldering."

"That's not good. Was anyone hurt?"

Ricky scratched her head. "Now here's there strange thing, besides some burns almost everyone was peachy. You'd think as popular as that place is more people would have been hurt. The barman died though, roof fell in on him."

"Ouch." His wince was genuine, the barman there had been a friend. "It blew up so… I suppose it must be counted as a homicide, whose case is it?"

"Martin and Montes, and Montes is real ticked you know they only just solved that other case."

"Yes the double homicide that was getting all the media, do you think the Boss is annoyed with them?"

"That could be it." She replied darkly.

Kurama settled in his seat some, only a few more hours and they could give this up as hopeless and go home. _But only yesterday, _he thought, _there was that corpse put on the doorstep of my apartment, somebody I knew. _

_Very dead, live people have more head than that and it'd been mostly blown away. Now that I think of it, he was an informant I met two days ago. Could someone have seen that? _

_I have no idea. And I really hate having enemies that I don't know about. Surprises are painful things, most of the time._

**--------------------------------------------**

**Japan**

**Genkai's Temple**

**Yard**

**Two Days Before The Disappearance**

**Before Previous Scene**

**--------------------------------------------**

After the passing of Genkai, her temple and its grounds had been used for exactly what she had wished. It was a demon's halfway home. Any demon who wished to learn how to safely coexist with humans could come there to gradually become accustomed to their world.

Following some time the demons usually left for the wider human world, but the temple was normally home to a decent number of people at any given time. Some stayed, some left, but even those came back for visits every now and then.

Toya was one of the ones who stayed, along with the other former Shinobu, Jin. He stood in the dark night near the tree line of the forest next to the temple, he'd sensed something strange in the wards around the perimeter, which was what had lead him to go out to investigate.

Now that he was standing here Toya could sense it even more clearly, it was a hole, torn right through them as if someone had blasted that part. He spread his power out, looking for the intruder.

"Toya?" called a voice from the temple porch, he jerked warily around to see Yukina looking curiously at him.

"Come here," he said crocking a finger, and something in his voice made Yukina come in a hurry.

"What's wrong?" she asked quietly.

"Something's torn through the wards. It's on the grounds somewhere."

Yukina gasped, then clapped a hand over her mouth in an effort to silence any other noise she might make. For his part, Toya closed his eyes and listened, extending his power out searching for the trespasser.

And then, _there_!

Like a bright beacon on a dark night an aura flared, a powerful one, dangerously nearby, in fact it was almost right there. His eyes snapped open and he put a protective arm around Yukina. He knew that aura, but was taking a moment to place.

Wait, he did.

It was…

The color blanched from his face. They were in _trouble_.

Toya summoned as much power as he could and…

**--------------------------------------------**

**Next Day**

**--------------------------------------------**

That morning, Jin was looking for Toya, with a sort of vague interest, because he had nothing else to do. It was proving more interesting than he'd have thought, Toya wasn't anywhere he'd looked so far, no one had seen him all that morning.

He floated along, poking his head into rooms at random.

"Hey, Jin!" the voice of Kuwabara called to him from down the hall, the psychic hurried toward him saying. "Have you seen Yukina anywhere? I've been looking for her all morning."

The Windmaster scratched his head. "Ah, no old Kuwa-boy. And Toya's been all hard to find dis mornin'."

"Huh," Kuwabara's forehead creased with a frown. "I wonder if…" he trailed off and his eyes unfocused for a moment. "now that I check, there's a hole in the protective wards. Come on, I need to make sure nothing's wrong. If Suzuka's torn another hole with one of his stupid inventions…" muttering some dire threats he left, trailing the interested Jin, who, distracted by this, was hovering a few feet off the ground.

Exiting the temple, they looked out across the rolling mountains and sweeping forests of Genkai's lands, or at least, they began to. They got distracted by the thing in the field near the forest line.

"What the…?" Kuwabara began, but Jin was already swooping around the thing examining it closely.

Once he was right next to it, Kuwabara could see it was ice, a huge chunk just sitting there. But looking harder through the surface he saw that there was a form in there.

"Is that Toya?" he asked Jin who nodded grimly.

Inside the ice, Toya was frozen in movement, one arm thrown up as if to ward off something, body hunched over to protect another form he had his other arm over.

"Yukina!" Kuwabara recognized the second form and threw out his hand, summoning his Sword.

Jin put out an arm to stop him. "Wait, Kuwa-buddy. Don't go an' be hasty, look." He scooped up a leaf and dropped it on the ice. As soon as a corner of the leaf so much as brushed the ice it was incased in hard frost, Jin nodded in satisfaction. "See? You go an' touch it an' you'll be awfully sorry, icy too for that matter. It's an old trick of Toya's."

Staring desperately into the ice Kuwabara let the Sword fade into nothing. "Then what do we do?"

"We wait." Said Jin simply. "The sun'll melt it out after while."

"Oh, great!" Kuwabara threw his hands up in frustration. "So we just sit around." He plunked himself down on the ground and crossed his arms.

"Look at dis weird thing. It seems awful familiar." Jin pointed into the ice, at a spot frozen in one of the far corner there was something that had been caught much like the leaf. It was roughly circular, green, with wings, and eye with a fuse. "I think I've seen it somewhere. Oi, there and there," he pointed twice more. "it looks like the ice was blown all away then froze back in."

"So here's what I think happened," Kuwabara began in a musing tone. "Toya goes out to see what's wrong with the wards, Yukina follows him and something attacks them. To save them both, Toya freezes 'em over, since he's an icemaster and Yukina's an ice maiden he must of figured they'd both be okay. That I get, the part that still confuses me is what attacked them?"

Jin clicked his fingers. "Ah, I remember! I remember! Dis was that thing that the bomby guy threw at your buddy during that Tournament."

"Bomby guy? What're you talking about, Jin you're still not making any sense."

"The bomby guy! You know, the one that blew stuff up!"

Kuwabara whipped around to face the windmaster, half getting to his feet. "You mean Karasu?"

He nodded. "Yeah, him. That explains why ol Toya froze them both over rather then fight."

"What do we do now?" Kuwabara asked again sitting back down.

The other Shinobu plopped down beside him. "We still wait. Only they can tell us what really happened and we can't talk to them until all dis ice melts."

The two men sat and stared at the ice as if by doing that they could melt it by power of will.

**--------------------------------------------**

**America**

**New York City**

**Apartment**

**One Day Before The Disappearance**

**Same Day**

**--------------------------------------------**

The day had ended up being a long one for Kurama, but thankfully, it was over now. If he'd been truly unlucky, he would still be with Ricky pulling an all-nighter. In the end the suspect they'd been waiting for had shown up and on sighting them, bolted.

The general rule in police officering was that when people ran, they usually were guilty of _something_.

Thus he had run after the man, easily leaving Ricky in the dust. Five minutes later he had the runner in cuffs in an alley and his cell phone ringing in his pocket his partner demanding to know where the hell he was.

"I hate it when you do that," she grumbled. "it's weird how fast you move sometimes." And then when she brought the car up to were they were, he'd had to avoid her suspicious gaze from there to the station. By now Ricky was seeing all the peculiarities in him and he had a bad feeling soon she might put things together and come up with something near enough to the truth to be inconvenient.

Ricky thought he was a human called Shuichi Minamino. A human she'd worked cases with for years. A human who'd brought her coffee in the morning and sat on stakeouts with.

Truth to be told he hoped Ricky wouldn't figure it out for a long time; he liked the life he'd created here.

Trudging up the steps to his apartment, he fished in a pocket for his keys. He lived alone these days, except for when Hiei decided to show up.

Then the stench hit his nose.

He stopped in his tracks and sniffed deeply, mentally listing the smells. _Blood, quite lot of it, death, and a hint of…something…something like burnt flesh. _

"Not again." Kurama groaned and trotted up the last couple of stairs to see a sadly familiar thing in front of the door to his apartment. Someone had propped a corpse on his doorstep.

As if to make it worse, he knew this woman, he'd met her not that long ago. It was the demoness he had spoken to for information at the bar Greenie's

"This is the fourth one." Hiei's voice spoke from behind him and to his credit, Kurama didn't jump…too much. He turned to find the other demon standing a few steps down.

"I know, and the fact that I spoke to all four of these demons not long before they were killed does not comfort me." Kurama leaned down and inspected the corpse with a professional eye, he was a detective after all, dead bodies were just part of the job. "This one has bits missing too, look," he pointed. "her arm has parts taken out of it, so does her leg. By these wounds I would say she was tortured before she died,"

"What killed her?" asked Hiei, his voice showing no sympathy, only mild interest.

"From what I can see, the final death blow wasn't loss of blood but a jolt of electricity, see the burned flesh on her throat? This matches the rest of the bodies I've found in this exact same place." Standing he opened the door of his apartment so the body fell back into his rooms, he shifted the rest of her inside then glanced back at Hiei.

Hiei sighed, and the blood streaking the floor combusted with a great _wumf!_

"Someone is trying to send you a message." He said, entering and closing the door behind him. "Killing these people, putting them here in such a pointed way, don't brush it off."

"I know." Kurama smoothed back his hair in a tired fashion. "Really, I know. It's just…" he sighed. "I just wish I knew who's trying to tell me something and _what_ it is."

**--------------------------------------------**

**America**

**New York City**

**Police Station**

**Day Of The Disappearance**

**--------------------------------------------**

_Kurama,_

_How have you been? You could visit you know, it's not like you can't take off work, I know you must have a whole bunch if vacation days. I still can't believe you're a detective, I mean, a real detective. The irony, it burns. Ouch._

_Hasn't my English gotten a lot better? All this practice in letter writing is probably good for me. But I've gotta get out of here, Kayko's calling me._

_Write back, you lazy kitsune, you can't be that busy._

_Yusuke_

P.S. I've been getting the strangest feeling lately, like something's about to happen and Kuwabara is even twitchier. That makes me kind of nervous, his sixth sense is a lot stronger than mine and I think he's picking up on something. Beats me what though.

_P.P.S Why do we keep writing each other? Email me goddamnit!_

Kurama lowered the letter with a groan, more vague shadows, more hints at something coming, but nothing concrete. Something substantial would be rather nice.

A snore brought him back to the here and now and he felt a fond smile touch his mouth. He had yet to give Ricky her morning coffee so she was still snoring at her desk, right in front of his. They had worked out this morning ritual years ago and they felt it worked best for both of them.

"Give her the coffee already," said a voice from over the partition between him and the next desk over. "she snores _really_ loud."

"Will do, Montes." He replied

Mengii Montes, another detective sat back down on her side her brown-haired head disappearing from view as she went back to paperwork.

Setting the letter from Yusuke aside, Kurama picked up one of the styrofoam cups of coffee on his desk and went over to Ricky.

He waved it in her general area, letting the sent waft into her nose. A hand snaked out, faster than anything and snagged it. The hand brought the coffee to her mouth and swigged. She swallowed. "Good morning, Chi." Ricky said, with an amount of brightness she hadn't had a moment ago. The restorative properties of coffee were amazing. "What're we doing today?"

"Well, that man we caught was guilty so the case we were on yesterday is all tied up. Today looks like paperwork."

Ricky swallowed more coffee. "Damn paperwork. Looks like snooze city today then."

**--------------------------------------------**

Toward noon, Mengii approached him. "Hey, Kurama," just calling him that name got the kitsune's full attention, Mengii was a powerful psychic, she knew full well what he was. "I owe you another warning."

"Considering what happened last time you gave me a warning, you'll understand if I want to know more information. You had a vision?" Kurama frowned, more shadows, more vague hints.

"You bet I did, powerful enough I had Martin," her partner. "picking me up off the floor. I hate it when a vision makes me pass out."

"But what was it about?" pressed Kurama.

Mengii's face grew more solemn. "I saw you, you were bleeding everywhere and running. Also, and I don't quite get this bit, somehow there were _two_ of you. Then… everything explodes. There're screams, but all I can see are flames." she shook her head. "Beats me what it could mean, but its not really a comforting vision."  
"These explosions, were you able to see were they came from?" asked Kurama intently.

"Well, yeah actually, I got a glimpse. Not a good look, mind you, but I did see they had dark hair, and…oh yeah, purple eyes. Mean anything to you?"

With astonishment she watched as the blood drained from the kitsune's face at an alarming rate leaving it a sickly white.

"Something wrong?" Mengii asked.

"…no…no, nothing… I'm fine…" he responded, but it seemed as if he spoke from very, very far away. "…I've got to…" but Kurama didn't finish his sentence, turning on his heel he left.

"Where're you going?" Ricky called after his retreating form, he didn't stop. "What'd you say to him?" she asked Mengii. "I've never seen him get that kind of expression before."

"I don't know why he did that," replied Mengii, looking after Kurama.

Ricky was frowning. _You know,_ she thought, _if I didn't know any better I would have said he looked scared._ She shook her head. _But, no. That's ridiculous, this is Chi we're talking about. He's fine…I think._

**--------------------------------------------**

**Japan**

**Genkai's Temple**

**Day Of The Disappearance**

**--------------------------------------------**

The wait for the ice to melt had been agonizingly slow. The sun beat down on the two waiting as drops of water formed on the ice's surface, sliding off onto the grass.

For hours they sat there, side-by-side, Jin and Kuwabara, waiting for any change. Then at last the ice had melted down to the point that Toya's upraised arm had come free.

"Finally," said Jin and kicked off from the ground. He'd drifted over the ice, reaching out to touch the arm. Once he did so, he murmured something, some words of comfort to his trapped companion.

The fingers of the free arm flexed, curled, uncurled, and the ice melted.

Kuwabara was fast enough to grab Yukina before she hit the ground, but she was unconscious and for one bad second he thought she was dead. But no.

"What did you say to him?" he asked Jin.

Jin was propping up the icemaster, checking for a pulse. "Just that it waz me 'nd it was time to let go," he shrugged. "guess he knew if it was me then it was okay now. Boy I wanna know what started this all."

"Don't we all." muttered Kuwabara.

**--------------------------------------------**

And more waiting had taken place, waiting for the two to wake, for even though neither were wounded they wouldn't wake.

More time passed, again, slowly. More inhabitants of the Temple had become aware of what had transpired, in and out drifted Chu, Riku, and others. On seeing nothing had changed, they would leave, only to be drawn inexorably back again. The only ones who stayed were Jin and Kuwabara, they had invested interest in finding out what had happened.

Yukina lay absolutely still, not one of her eyelashes batted, and she was warm, perhaps a touch too much so for an ice maiden. On the other hand Toya's sleep was much less restful, he tossed and turned and seemed to frown even in slumber. Predictably it was he who woke first.

With a hitch of breath Toya sat bolt upright his eyes wide. He looked widely from side to side as if he didn't even recognize were he was.

The other Shinobi was quick to grab his arm, knowing what a panicked Toya could inadvertently do. "Oy, calm down there. Ya just got up, don't go icen' up everything already."  
"What happened?" asked Kuwabara quickly.

Jin winced as Toya grabbed his arm back, it wasn't a light grip. His eyes were icy as he said: "Get Kurama, call him right now."

"Huh?"

The temperature went down in the room and Jin realized his arm was going numb. "Do it."

"Why?"

"There's something he needs to know, right now."

"But Toya old-boy, doncha think you should rest for a minute, ya just woke up?"

Ice crackled around Toya's hand. "Do. It."

Kuwabara stood quickly. "I'll get the phone, jeez!"

**--------------------------------------------**

**America**

**New York City**

**Disappearance**

**--------------------------------------------**

Kurama hurried through the streets toward his home, this was no time to be caught unawares.

If anyone had seen him vanish, though no one did because no one was around, they would have found it odd. The redhead stopped in his tracks, twitched, there was a _bzt_ sound of electricity, and he fell.

A shadow fell across the ground and Kurama was gone

Later Ricky would call his cell, get no one, call his apartment, get on one. She'd visit his place and find that nobody answered the door.

No one would have seen him since he left the station.

Shuichi Minamino had vanished off the face of the earth.

**--------------------------------------------**

"**Where do Vanished objects go?"**

"**Into nonbeing, which is to say, everything," replied Professor McGonagall. **

"**Nicely phrased," replied the eagle door knocker, and the door swung open.**

**(Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, Pg. 591)**

**--------------------------------------------**

**TBC**


	2. There’s A Little Phone Tag

**Seeker**

Dane Soar

It's strange, there are so many characters in so many different places it's taking a while to get them all together. I hope the pace isn't too slow, this chapter might seen a bit slow but the next one has some cool action. I promise.

But please leave a review, tell me how you like things.

Chapter 2** There's A Little Phone Tag**

**--------------------------------------------**

**America**

**New York City**

**Apartment**

**--------------------------------------------**

Hiei wasn't all too surprised to find Kurama's apartment empty, the kitsune was probably still at work. He was mildly surprised to see the light blinking on the answering machine though.

Cautiously, mechanical things sometimes didn't like him, he reached out and touched the button, the machine beeped.

"Three new messages. First message:"

"Hey Kurama," it was Kuwabara. "I, ah, don't wanna panic you or anything, but we've run across something and it hints that…that, well an old friend of yours might be back. Look, I'll call you if we get any firm proof, we've gotta wait until some people defrost. And no, I'm not kidding around. Watch your back for a bit."

"End of first message. Second message:"  
Ricky's thick New York accent came out of the machine next. "Hey, Chi, were the _hell_ are you? I've been looking for you everywhere, what's with you today? You're acting real weird. Walking out of work, and all that. Anyway, call me back."

"End of second message. Third message:"

"Kurama," Toya sounded panicked, not a tone common to the ice master. "Listen to me now. Karasu is alive and after you. _Run_. Now. Do it!"

"End of third message. No more new messages."

Raising an eyebrow Hiei considered the messages. No use, too obscure.

There was a pounding at the door.

With a growl of frustration he peered out the peephole, he was not in the habit of playing doorman for Kurama, unless it was someone on fire, he wasn't answering. And if it was someone stupid, he'd _set_ them on fire.

Botan was the one knocking, with her kimono smoldering at the hems.

For a few moments Hiei debated which category she fell into. Both apparently.

He let her in.

With a smoke curling after her she entered. "Oh, Hiei… what are you doing here? I need to find Kurama."

"Don't you all." muttered Hiei, he aimed a questioning look at her smoldering kimono. "Doesn't that hurt?"

"Yeah, actually," she brushed at her sleeves. "I was in such a hurry to fly here, I didn't have time to wait for one of the ogres to make a hole in the last protective shield for me, I just went through. Shame though," Botan sighed as she looked down at herself. "I'll never save this kimono."

With another glance, Hiei put out the embers at her hems. "Why?"

"Oh, thank you, you know, I think living with Kurama is having a positive influence on you."

He responded with a look that said as clearly as if he had said it that he could easily rekindle the embers.

"Anyway, what 'why' were you asking about?" she asked.

"Why were you in such a hurry to get here?" clarified Hiei, usually he was much more taciturn, but he really wanted to know what the hell was going on.

"Ah, I got side tracked! Lord Koenma needs to meet with Kurama immediately. Where is he? Its important." she glanced around the apartment.

"He's not here," said Hiei.

"Where is he?"

Hiei shrugged.

"It's important."

"You said that before."

"Hiei! Come on, Kurama's in a lot of danger!"

Glancing over at the answering machine, Hiei narrowed his eyes. "Karasu back?"

Botan jumped. "How do _you_ know about that?"

"So he is back."

She slapped her hands over her mouth. "Oh damn." said Botan through her fingers. "I wasn't supposed to tell you that."

"I need to talk to Koenma. Right now. Take me." Hiei demanded.

"Kurama missing, Karasu back, Suzaku might be back, oh damn I wasn't supposed to tell you that either, and you want to see Koenma. Things have officially gone crazy. Come on."

**--------------------------------------------**

**America**

**New York City**

**Dojo**

**--------------------------------------------**

A protected place, ruled by one of the most powerful clans of lynx demons, the Dojo was the ideal place for teaching. It was built by someone having a bit of nostalgia for Asian architecture but the best thing about it to the three, at the moment, was the fact that it had a lot of big empty rooms. And a lot of shields.

"Come on kid, hold it together. Come on."

Sweat rolled down Mitari's face, his hands were outstretched but shaking.

"Just a little longer. Hold it together!"

Before him on the polished wooden floor the form of an enormous dragon, made of shimmering water a bit pink with blood wavered again as Mitari struggled to hold it in one piece.

"Mitari, don't you dare punk out on me!" his teacher snapped, it was too late. The dragon wavered one last time and dispersed into a multitude of drops of water, which pattered onto the floor.

"Aw, damnit," said Mitari glumly, eyeing the puddles of water on the floor glumly. "do I have to clean it up, Mengii?"

His teacher crossed her arms. "What do you think? You break it, you fix it." She pointed at the mop leaning against the wall. "Still, though, that was pretty good, how long was that Amanuma?"

The young man leaning against the wall near the mop consulted a stopwatch in his hand. "Fifteen minutes and seven seconds."

"Cool," said Mitari. "about seven minutes more than last time. That dragon's a damn pain to hold in shape."

"Yeah but did you see the teeth on it? Ice, razor sharp and deadly." Amanuma set the stopwatch away and picked up the mop, tossing it to Mitari. "Better get started buddy."

With a sigh, he began. Over the time he'd been training with Mengii Montes he'd worked on the shape and design of what he created out of blood and water, manipulating the water to freeze parts of the mixture for teeth and claws. Learning to direct the creatures better had also been a large part of his training.

"Okay, Amanuma, your turn kid." Mengii nodded at him to take his place and he trotted forward with a lot more enthusiasm than he'd shown up to this point.

He dug in his pocket and came up with a video game controller, holding it up he began to unroll his territory.

Or at least, he began to, until Mengii swiped him over the head. "What did I tell you about doing that? You don't need to bother with that territory crap all the time, just channel you power."

Narrowing his eyes to concentrate, Amanuma toggled one of the switches on his controller, across the room Mitari jerked upright, dropping the mop.

"Ow! Careful!"

"Sorry." He manipulated the controller again and Mitari mechanically reached down, picked up the mop and beginning to mop. His movements were a little jerky, but otherwise he moved quite normally.

No one watching the scene would have guessed that Mitari had no control over anything he was doing. Amanuma too had come far in his training, though his powers had taken some adapting. By using the premise of a game, the younger of the two students was able to puppet people with the video controller, though he hadn't tried it on too many, he found people he knew were much easier.

Mengii smiled at her two students, benevolently. She was a woman of average height, perhaps a touch heavy, but not too much so, with brown hair in a tail, the same color as her eyes.

She was a damn good detective and, much to her surprise, a good teacher too.

When she'd meet them two years ago they'd been involved with Kurama and the others in something of a crisis, but after things had calmed down and the hostage situation had been cleared up, the two had contacted her asking for guidance. Once her conscience had bugged her for a bit, Mengii had given in, agreeing to teach the two.

She wasn't really a big softhearted person, but she had to admit to growing to like the boys. Both moved to the city, Amanuma after he graduated from high school, and Mitari transferred collages.

It was amazing how fast they'd been able to uproot their lives and move to New York, Mitari was interested in studying law and Amanuma was obsessed with designing video games. Both had found collages they liked, renting an apartment together.

Amanuma was still punching buttons but Mitari's actions as he mopped had become a little less coordinated and there was sweat on Amanuma's forehead. When Mitari stumbled and slipped in the water, Mengii called things to a halt.

"Enough Amanuma, good control, but you need to work on breaking that habit of using a territory. You don't always need to," she saw both wince and chuckled. "I've got to get home and make something food-like, them met Martin, we're following up on a lead." Though Martin didn't really need her along since their case was looking like a damn dead end barring this one last lead.

Then her pocket began singing merrily to her, which is a thing that would break anyone's train of thought. It took a moment for her to realize it was her cell phone, she reached in and flipped it open. "Mengii Montes, who's this?"

**--------------------------------------------**

**Spirit World**

**Koenma's Office**

**--------------------------------------------**

"Where's Kurama?" asked Koenma as Botan led Hiei into his office.

"That's all everyone wants to know today," growled Hiei darkly. "he's gone. And no, I don't know where."

"You two live together, how can you not know where he is? Aren't you two…you know…" Koenma waggled his eyebrows.

"'You know'… what?" Hiei asked.

"That you are…umm, together."

A penny dropped. "Oh," Hiei blinked. "but that doesn't mean I know where is, he's been gone for hours."

Koenma frowned. "Do you believe he's missing? Think hard on it Hiei, and no sarcasm, it's important."

"I haven't seen him, like I said. _Why_ do you want to know?" Hiei's eyes narrowed. "Tell me."

"Well…" Koenma looked evasive and shifty eyed.

"Tell me." The temperature of the room edged upward, flames began to crackle around Hiei's arm ominously. "No more stalling."

"Jeez, Hiei, stop that! This place is virtually lined with paperwork, it'll go up like a torch!"

"Then tell me whatever your sitting on."

In frustration the toddler threw his hands in the air, chomping on his pacifier agitatedly. "Fine! _Fine_! It's not like it can make this any worse." he slumped in his chair. "Just stop it with the flames."

Warily his face still suspicious, Hiei let the flames recede and the temperature go down to less sweat inducing temperatures.

"About three months ago we received word that a psychic called Kami was killed in her laboratory."

"How is this relevant?" Hiei interrupted.

Botan laughed behind her hand, muttering something like: "Same old Hiei."

"Don't interrupt," Koenma snapped. "now, we did some research into Kami's work and discovered something grave. She's a necromancer, and recently her work has led her to attempt to bring back more and more powerful demons with power intact."

He watched Hiei's face change from skeptical to a blank unreadable mask.

"Exactly. So we looked into what she was doing, and double checked to make sure we had it right. The conclusion we came to was rather disturbing. And now, not only do we have eyewitness proof of this, but also the soul is missing from were it should be. Now we can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that Karasu is alive."

For several long moments, Hiei said nothing. There was no expression on his face at all, it was too blank, there was no telling what was going through his mind. When he spoke his voice was flat and dangerous. "_You knew about this three months ago and never so much as warned Kurama?_"

"We wanted to be absolutely sure," Koenma said quickly. "and we thought that if we couldn't control the matter we would inform Kurama, and possibly Yusuke. But things got out of hand, Karasu slipped through our people's fingers, he was in Japan for a bit until recently, and then he struck for Kurama less directly than we'd expected.

"He also seems to have some sort of accomplice, but we're not sure of who it is, we think that it might have been another of Kami's experiments," shrugging Koenma picked up a paper and scanned it. "and that's about it. Those are all the confirmed details we have at this moment."

"Sir," Botan asked. "you said we were trying to keep this under wraps. Why start reveling things now?"

"Because I think there's a definite chance that Kurama might be in danger, I know that Hiei here is probably going to contact Yusuke and from there some of the most capable people to help Kurama. It saves work and I don't have to send the SDF and deal with the collateral damage they'll cause. Now Hiei, I want…"

"Too late," Botan said. "he's gone."

"No one listens to me anymore," grumbled Koenma. "oh, well, go and get the Spirit Detective, Botan."

"Which one?" asked Botan.

"Not Yusuke, get me the current one! Jeez, what do I have to do to get anything done around here?"

**--------------------------------------------**

**America**

**New York City**

**Dojo**

**--------------------------------------------**

"Mengii Montes, who's this?" she said into her phone.

"Hey, Mengii, it's Kuwabara,"

"Oh, hey, it's been a while. How are you doing?"

"Fine," he sounded somewhat strained and impatient. "do you know were Kurama is?"

"No, he wasn't in for work today, why?"

Kuwabara ignored her question. "How long has it been since you saw him last?"

"Yesterday, he left the station early, what's going on?"

Again he ignored her question. "You haven't seen him since, are you sure?"

"Positive." Mitari and Amanuma were both watching her, no doubt reading the concern on her face. "Come on, Kuwabara, tell me what all this is about. Is it something I need to know about?"

"…I guess. It's hard to explain over the phone."

"Well, try."

"There's this guy… Kurama fought him a long time ago, killed him. But we think he might be back, somehow or other. And if he is, that's really bad news for Kurama. This guy almost killed him that first time, I think he wouldn't mind doing it again. And…"

"And what?"

"And I think this is the one person Kurama'd actually be afraid of. Him alive is not good."

"Well that explains a lot," she said. "I was describing a vision I had to him yesterday and he went all pale and left."

"What was the vision?"

"Lots of explosions, fire, him bleeding a lot, guy with black hair, purple eyes."

The tone of Kuwabara's voice suggested a penny had dropped. "Oh… I see. This is looking really, _really_ bad. Okay, I need a favor from you."

Mengii groaned. "The last time I gave you guys a favor I almost blew my own head off. I'm not doing that again."

"It's nothing like that, I just need you to look out for some people for me. Two of them. They're both demons, and both shinobi. One of them, Toya, had a nasty encounter with Karasu, that guy, and he's convinced that Kurama's in some sort of vital danger. I tried to get him to wait until I called, but he wouldn't.

"And wherever Toya goes, Jin follows, so the two of them hopped into a portal to go over. Just keep an eye out for them, Toya is short, he's a skinny little bastard, he's got blue hair, blue eyes, he's an ice master too, Jin's tall, red hair, blue eyes, pointy ears if he's excited, and he's a wind master so he might be floating. They're good enough to not stick out enough in a crowd, but it'd be nice to know they haven't gotten themselves into trouble of some sort.

"No one's answering the phone at Kurama's place, but maybe Hiei'll be there. I'm heading over too, though it'll probably take longer for me, I have to wrap up a few things here."

"I'll watch for them." Mengii replied.

"Thanks," said Kuwabara, which ended their conversation.

"What was that about?" asked Amanuma anxiously as soon as she got off her cell.

Quickly Mengii explained what she'd been told to the two younger psychics.

"Man, that sounds bad." Mitari said darkly.

"Yeah, but scram you two, I need to make a call. Keep an eye out for the demons though." She flapped a hand at them as she paged through her phone for Kurama's home number.

Obediently, if a little reluctantly, Mitari and Amanuma left, taking the mop with them to put away.

Mengii listened to Kurama's phone ring a few times before an annoyed voice answered it. "What?"

"Hiei, is that you?"

"Yes. What do you want?"

Again Mengii repeated what Kuwabara had told her.

Several long moments of silence passed before Hiei spoke once more. "Call the Detective."  
"What detective?"

"Yusuke." said Hiei shortly.

"Okay…sure, I'll call him if you need me to."

"Good." and Hiei hung up.

Staring at the cell phone for a moment, Mengii frowned to herself. "I don't like this." She told the phone.

**--------------------------------------------**

**Apartment**

**--------------------------------------------**

Hiei was very annoyed.

Today had not been a good day, Kurama had gone missing, Koenma had been irritating, dead people hadn't stayed dead. He was pissed.

And he wasn't sure what part had annoyed him the most.

Just after he had arrived back at the apartment that psychic woman called, because of this he didn't immediately fry the two demons who had been sitting on the couch. Instead, because he knew now who they were, turned and only glared.

"Yo," said Jin waving a hand, he was obviously excited, he floated a few inches from the couch. "we didn' want to break in, but Toya-boy here insisted."

Toya sat as still as a statue, but the coolness in the air hinted at his tenseness. "Kurama?"

"Missing." said Hiei bluntly, his face not giving away anything he felt on the subject.

"Do you have a plan?" Toya asked.

"Gather reinforcements," Hiei's eyes glinted. "then strike. Find Karasu, find Kurama, kill the first, get back the second."

"How long until these reinforcements arrive?" asked Toya.

"A few hours," Hiei shrugged. "at the longest."

"Very well," Toya stood in one fluid motion. "Jin, come on." To Hiei he said. "if Karasu has him we don't have time wait hour, we'll track him ahead. Once you get yourselves together, follow. We can try to leave a trail."

Rare was the time that Toya was so impatient, but he owed Kurama a debt from the Dark Tournament, he wanted him alive to still be able to repay it.

Hiei watched calmly as they left, Toya walking swiftly with Jin trailing behind him, perplexed, but willing to go along if Toya was going too. It was impulsive, but perhaps having two shinobi track the trail of the kitsune's disappearance would help in the long run.

Anyway, he wasn't about to stop them, there were bigger issues at the moment.

**--------------------------------------------**

**Japan **

**Tokyo**

**Ukimura Diner**

**--------------------------------------------**

Yusuke hung up his phone and looked at his wife. "Sorry, Kayko, but I've got to go. The shit has hit the fan, or its going to soon. Either way, there'll be a splatter. I've gotta go help."

Kayko sighed. "If you must."

With a laugh Yusuke bounded out of the restaurant, upstairs, returning later with a bag, exiting at high speed.

"Wait!" she called after him. "Before you go there's something I need to tell you!" but he was out of earshot already. With a groan she sat. "Same old, same old for Yusuke." She murmured to herself.

**--------------------------------------------**

"**Here comes the cavalry ladies and gentlemen."**

-------------------------------------------- 

**TBC**


	3. The Gang Gathers

**Seeker**

Dane Soar

Thank you reviewers, it's great to hear from you.

Someone asked about the pairings, especially the Hiei and Kurama that was hinted at in the last chapter. Any romance in this story will be really light, even the cannon ones. I'm a really bad romance writer! Sorry if you object to any pairings, it wouldn't make sense to change things now. Something about changing horses in midstream and all that.

Finally things get more toward the action, it's been slow, but everyone is so far apart and needs things explained. Look out for abrupt walk-in interruptions.

Chapter 3** The Gang Gathers**

**--------------------------------------------**

**Somewhere…**

**--------------------------------------------**

Strangely enough, out of all the various monsters Kurama had faced, none had every truly terrified him. After all he had seen, it was hard to ruffle his composure.

But one demon had terrified him, the cold sort of terror that went right down to his very bones. It was one with the right combination of power, skill, and general creepiness to reach inside his brain and press the button labeled 'primal fear'.

Karasu was that demon.

Gradually, Kurama woke with a dull headache in the back of his skull, familiar; almost like that time he'd been stun-gunned. He would have groaned, but sensation returned to his body, which told him that he was laying on an unfamiliar surface.

With the utmost caution he opened his eyes.

"He's awake, I told you my lightning wouldn't keep him unconscious for long." said a light voice, then there was the sound of someone walking away, as another person came forward.

Sitting down beside him, Karasu smiled, the kind that sent cold shivers skittering down Kurama's spine. "Good afternoon. And how do you feel?"

"How are you here?" was the first thing out of Kurama's mouth. He scrabbled backward a few inches, in an effort to put distance between them, until his back hit the wall. He reached out to the plants in his hair for defense and felt…nothing. They weren't there.

"Hardly a polite first question Kurama, I had thought you had better manners when we last met. But then again, you did kill me," The demon shrugged. "so perhaps

the subject is somewhat to debate."

At this point Kurama realized a crucial detail he should have noticed before, but hadn't due to some contained internal hysteria.

Karasu wore no mask.

As if he knew the direction of his thought Karasu reached up to touch his face. "Ah, you've noticed. But no worries, you see, breathing is apparently somewhat optional when you come back to life. We are not about to be incinerated. I have other plans." He drew a few strands of red hair toward him, Kurama flinching instinctively at the movement, and examined them. "Still with split ends I see. Such a shame."

**--------------------------------------------**

**America**

**New York City**

**Apartment**

**--------------------------------------------**

It was amazing how fast it was to get from Japan to America. A simple hop into a portal from Japan into the Makai, where there was an established safe portal, then from there to America, it had taken Yusuke less than twenty minutes.

Remembering where Kurama's apartment was from his last visit, he made short work of getting there and was soon pounding on the door. Hiei opened it with disgruntled expression.

"Mengii tells me there's trouble," Yusuke hitched his pack a little higher on his shoulder. "lemme in and fill me in."

Doing so, Hiei closed the door after him. "Wait until the others get here. I don't feel like repeating myself."

"Who's coming?"

"Mengii, her two students, Botan, probably the Idiot too." Hiei's face suggested that in his opinion, little would be helped by Kuwabara's presence.

Yusuke shrugged, settling himself on the couch. "Well, at least there'll be a lot of us. The more the merrier, if things are as Mengii hinted when she talked to me. Can't things stay peaceful for more than a few years?"

"You'd get bored."

He snorted. "Probably."

There was a rapping at the door and Hiei growled under his breath, not thrilled with being the doorman.

"I'll do it." Yusuke said quickly, noticing that Hiei was in a dark mood, which was probably something to do with a certain kitsune being missing.

In came Mengii, closely followed by Mitari and Amanuma, and bringing up the rear was Botan. She waved at Yusuke in greeting. "Good to see you Yusuke, Koenma wants me to let you know he's sending Kotori and Sai behind me. He wants to make sure this whole crisis gets solved soon."

"He's sending the new Spirit Detective, huh? Sounds like Koenma, he just wants to make sure he doesn't get in trouble." Yusuke snickered. "Typical."

"But they'll be a while in coming. Remember how lazy Sai, her assistant, was? They can't find him."

"Well, better late then never whenever they get here." Yusuke leaned back into the couch as Mitari claimed the seat next to him, his teacher the other end, and Amanuma the chair. As Botan took the arm of the chair, Hiei crossed his arms in front of his chest. "So Hiei," said Yusuke. "fill us in."

"Kurama was taken by Karasu," began Hiei flatly, his voice just a touch too neutral for him to actually be that calm. "Jin and Toya have gone ahead to track the trail while it's fresh."

Once more there was someone at the door.

When they were let in, it was revealed to be Kuwabara. "Sorry I'm late, I had to convince Yukina not to come." he looked around at the slightly crowded room. "I guess it's standing room only."

Yusuke endeavored to put them back on track before Hiei could start on the insults. "How do you know that Karasu is alive, Hiei?"

"Koenma confirmed it," Hiei said. "he knew about it for months, but he kept it under wraps because he wanted to keep it quiet. Some experimenting necromancer brought him back, along with Suzaku also."

"Koenma told you that?" Kuwabara asked.

"No, _she_ let it slip." He nodded at Botan, who looked embarrassed. "but before Karasu came here he apparently showed his face at Temple. Toya caught sight of him."

"Yeah, though Toya froze himself and Yukina over so no harm came of it." Kuwabara interjected.

With a glare in his direction for the interruption Hiei continued. "Kurama had been getting veiled messages for days, corpses of people he knew left by the door, that sort of thing. We just didn't know anything about who was doing it."

"I was wondering about that," Yusuke glanced over at the cloth that still covered the latest body. "guess you got too busy to get rid of this one. Better do it soon though, it'll start to smell if it's old."

"I know someone who can deal with him, or is it a her? Whatever… She can deal with a body without trouble." volunteered Mengii. "And if we need extra firepower, she'll probably be happy to comply, she knows Kurama, he was pretty well liked all around."

"Good, call her." Said Yusuke at once.

Mitari held up a hand. "Umm, I was wondering…if we're going to need extra firepower to help Kurama, well…I know Hagiri's number."

"How do _you_ know that?" demanded Amanuma in surprise, Kaname Hagiri, Sniper, had dropped off the radar since two years ago.

"Hagiri gave it to me, years ago, to call him if trouble ever showed up. He said it's a pain being left out of the loop." Mitari explained, he was already reaching for his cell. "I don't know exactly where he is, but he'll probably come if I tell him what's going on. It'd be useful to have someone with powers like his on our side."

"Okay, Mengii call your friend, tell her to bring her body bag, Mitari call Hagiri, tell him to bring lot of knives this time," Yusuke said. "in the meantime, the rest of us can try to hash out some sort of plan." he rolled his eyes. "Hopefully."

With nods, Mengii and Mitari stood and left for the kitchens to make their calls in private.

Yusuke turned to Hiei. "You said Jin and Toya are tracking ahead?" Hiei nodded.

"Then they can probably track down where Karasu is holed up with his blast toy. What did they say they're going to do, wait for us or attack?"

"They said they'd go ahead and leave a trail for us to follow," Hiei replied. "why?"

"Well, It'd be easier if those two just acted as scouts, we need to know where Karasu is. That guy is way to smart not to have some sort of contingency plan," Yusuke made a derisive noise. "I'm not going to be the dumbass who falls headfirst into a trap, especially if it means we can't get Kurama back because of it. I want Jin and Toya as scouts, not as advance fighters, if they get blown to bits they'll be no use to either of us."

"I can find them," volunteered Botan. "I can fly over the city and use this." she held up a watch that was familiar to Yusuke.

"Hey, that's the tracker watch thing!" Kuwabara beat him to the punch. "I remember that, it was in the box of Spirit Detective tools when you opened it to track Urameshi down during that House of Four Dimensions crap. Can't we just use that to track Karasu? Or even Kurama?"

There was a contemptuous snort from Hiei. "He's probably gone to some effort to hide his energy and anyone nearby him, it isn't hard to learn how to do it. Most _children_ in the Makai can."

"But there's a good chance I can find Toya and Jin," Botan said. "and when I do, I can tell them the change in plans."

"Presuming they listen to you." mumbled Kuwabara under his breath.

"Okay good idea, get on it," Yusuke said and she left, through the window instead of the door, summoning her oar as she went. "we wait until they give us the location, then what?"

"We go in the front, all guns blazing in a headlong charge." Guessed Kuwabara. He received several dirty looks and held his hands up defensively. "Hey, I was kidding. If Urameshi didn't suggest it, I figured I had to."

"Kurama had to be the one to get kidnapped, he's the good one at this planning shit." Yusuke muttered in frustration.

Mitari came back in brandishing his cell phone in victory. "I got Hagiri!"

"Really?" asked Amanuma.

"Yeah, actually, strangely enough _he_ called me. But he's coming now, lucky for us, he was in the city."

Yusuke nodded in satisfaction. "Good. We'll need him." Obviously he held no grudges against the former Sniper from the Chapter Black affair. "When is he gonna get here—"

There was a urgent pounding on the door.

"Open up in there!" called a disgruntled voice.

"Who the hell is that?" asked Kuwabara, quietly.

"Open up! I know someone's in there, I heard voices!" continued the angry voice.

"That's Kurama's partner. The other detective." Hiei said, his eyes narrowing. "Of all times…"

A light bulb went off for Yusuke. "Oh, Ricky, now I remember. But I forget, does she know about," he gestured around the room. "the whole demon thing?"

"No,"

"Well, that's gonna make this awkward." Amanuma muttered.

"Better let her in," sighed Hiei appearing to steel himself for the worst. "it'll be easier than letting her attract too much attention."

When at last she was inside, Ricky was flushed, out of breath and looking none to thrilled. "I know something is up! Chi leaves work early, _early_ for Christsakes, and then doesn't even show up today at all! I know something is wrong." she snapped. "And I don't appreciate being left in the dark! Now tell me what the hell is going on, right _now_."

"Look," Yusuke tried to reason. "this isn't the best time right now, we're sort of in the middle of something."

"Then explain what it is to me."

"Well I…umm, it's complicated."

Ricky practically bristled. "My partner is hell knows where and the best you can explain it is that's it's _complicated_?" she glared around the room, Kuwabara avoided her gaze, Mitari and Amanuma looked at the floor or the ceiling respectively, Mengii ducked back into the kitchen and Hiei just glared back.

After making a face, Yusuke waved Amanuma out of his seat and pointed her at the empty chair. "Sit down, this might be kind of a shock all at once."

**--------------------------------------------**

Almost an hour later the demon bomb had been dropped, along with the more recent Karasu bomb, and Ricky sat, slumped in the chair, a puzzled frown on her face.

Several tense moments passed by as they watched for her reaction.

"You know…" she said slowly, after a few beats. "this is the part where I'm supposed to say I don't believe anything you've said and state that I think you're all crazy but…" Ricky's frown deepened.

"But what?" prompted Mengii hopefully, midway through the explanations she'd come out from the kitchen to take part in some of the explaining.

Ricky shrugged and sat forward, propping her arms on her knees then her chin on her laced fingers. "But…it makes too much sense. Call me crazy, and right now for believing this, I feel crazy, but somehow I swallow this demon thing. It explains too much. The plant loving, the really fast running, and every single time he got hurt the blatant hospital avoiding and suddenly being better way to fast to be normal. And all the weird friends." She cast a look at Mitari, Amanuma, Yusuke, and Kuwabara, then looked at Hiei. "And you, I didn't know what the hell was up with you," Ricky shrugged. "So Yusuke, God I hope I said your name right, what are we doing to get Chi back?"

She took it for granted that she was included in the plans, Yusuke supposed it was the same as the way he'd come all the way from Japan as soon as he'd heard about the trouble.

It was just what you did.

"Right now we're waiting for our scouts to come back, we were planning tactics to take down Karasu when you walked in."

"Oh, I guess I kind of screwed up your time schedule."  
"Not really," Kuwabara said. "since Toya and Jin aren't back yet."

"Those are the scouts," explained Yusuke.

"Demons too I bet. It's gonna be hard to keep all these people straight…" Ricky said speculatively. "And with all these weird foreign names too, Jeez—" the lights abruptly dimmed, then came back up.

"What was that?" demanded Mitari, the lights did it again, though this time the dark period was a few seconds longer. A dull buzzing noise could be heard from no identifiable place. "And what's that noise?"

Sparks played around a lamp and the bulb shattered with a pop, Mengii yelped as pieces of glass landed on her, leaping from the couch.

Another light-bulb popped, near Yusuke, who stood to dodge the glass and reached for the lamp to see the damage. He yelped as the metal shocked him, sparks leaping from the surface.

The ceiling lamp began to crackle, seconds later, it exploded as more flickers of electricity glimmered on the walls and around the ceiling. Paint began to flake off around those areas, drywall too until bared wires fell, vine like, into the room. The door burst open as the metal doorknob showered embers.

The final light popped and it was dark in the apartment but for the sparks. Ominous rumbles from the roof were echoed from the outside by thunder, though the sky had been clear before.

With a boom louder than a bass drum lightning struck.

Cracks appeared in what was left of the ceiling, they were in the top apartment, Yusuke realized at once, so if lightning had hit it…

"Run!" he yelled. "The ceiling's going to crum—"

Before he could finish, it did.

Pieces of the roof plummeted straight toward their unprotected heads.

**--------------------------------------------**

"**When out to save someone, one of the key steps is usually not to die in the process. It tends to make the rescuing part difficult."**

**--------------------------------------------**

**TBC**


	4. Taste Of Danger

**Seeker**

Dane Soar

Now that Christmas is over, going back to school is somewhat depressing, I meant to type more over the break but…oh well. Someone asked where Doctor and Yukina are, Yukina is at the temple, she'll probably show up soon in a healing capacity, though I long to see her get serous. And Doctor crops up later on, he's in hiding right now. Here's three new people showing up in one chapter, boy, aren't people just coming from everywhere?

Thank you reviewers, it's great hearing from you. And a thousand thanks go out to my awesome editor, Twiddle-dumb!

Chapter 4 **Taste Of Danger**

**--------------------------------------------**

**Somewhere…**

**--------------------------------------------**

When he was three, Kurama remembered wandering through a park, away from his mother's watchful eyes. He had found an older boy sitting in the grass by the wood line. The boy had the branch of a young sapling in his meaty fist and was viciously plucking each leaf off, one by one.

For anyone who could hear the language of the plants, the tree's screaming hurt the ears.

And for reasons the young Shuichi didn't quite know yet, he was infuriated. The true memories of Youko had not come to him completely, that would be several years still, but he knew enough to be angry.

Even though he was much smaller than the other boy, he bloodied his nose and sent him screaming for his mother.

That was years ago.

Perhaps this was the demonic version of ripping leaves off of a tree.

But he was no sapling…

And he had no leaves to tear off.

Kurama screamed as the bomb tore a chuck of flesh from his arm. He struggled to remain upright, but his leg burned. If he fell, he would go right into the wall of floating bombs, glowing green, and die a very slow painful death.

Glancing over, he saw that leering smile, those purple eyes that devoured every movement, every attempt to evade the bombs, with the pleasure of revenge.

They were alone, Suzaku had left to parts unknown.

No one would come.

Kurama knew no one would even begin to guess where he was.

There would be no rescue.

There were no plants here, nothing green, not even a bit of mold, it had all been burned from the enormous empty room.

He was defenseless.

No one but Karasu would hear him, no matter how much he screamed.

Kurama realized that he was going to die.

Bit by bit.

One bomb at a time.

**--------------------------------------------**

**Makai**

**Two Weeks Ago**

**Before Kurama's Disappearance**

**--------------------------------------------**

Life had been fairly good lately for Goki up to this point.

He'd been dead, which was nasty, but that hadn't lasted as long as he would have thought. Rather abruptly he was alive again, all thanks due to a strange necromancer Kami.

The time spent in her lab was unpleasant, Kami was obsessed with bringing back more and more powerful demons. She'd already had great triumphs with lower levels, like him, and had even managed a half functioning medium power demon.

Of course, the effects of necromancy on a human's brain, even a psychic, was the slow fading of sanity.

Gradually Kami was close enough to insane that Goki figured it was time to make tracks. He wasn't the brightest bulb, no, but even he could tell when it would be best to get out.

So that night, as Kami worked obsessively on her newest project, Goki slipped out of the lab.

After that, it had been nice to be alive. He'd wandered from settlement to settlement in the Makai, eating the weaker demons he encountered and avoiding the more powerful ones.

When Karasu had tracked him down, Goki took the smart option and joined him and the lightning demon. Not that he'd been too reluctant when he found out that Karasu had killed Kami, and who their target was.

Of course he remembered that backstabber Kurama, Hiei too, and of course the Spirit Detective. Anything that made them miserable, maybe even killing them into the bargain was a worthwhile venture to be on.

Not long after he joined them, Karasu gave him something.

"What is it?" Goki asked, holding the little orb in his massive hand.

"I heard you were fond of souls. You might find that useful," Karasu smiled, something that Goki was learning meant pain to someone in the future. "it's a replica of the Mournful Orb and while less powerful than the original, is perfectly able to separate body and soul."

**--------------------------------------------**

**Now**

**--------------------------------------------**

"Goki?"

He twitched, even after knowing him for all this time, Karasu was still terrifying.

"Check the perimeter. There might be pursuers."

"And if there is?"

There was that disturbing smile again, maybe something had come loose in the explosive demon's head when he came back to life. "If there is, take their souls and kill them."

**--------------------------------------------**

**America**

**New York City**

**Apartment**

**--------------------------------------------**

When about to be crushed by a ton of ceiling materials, it was strange what thoughts went through one's mind.

The first ones were mostly obscenities, the second fleeting thoughts toward their respective loved ones. Hands were flung over heads and eyes closed as they braced themselves for the impact.

Which didn't come.

Plaster-dust rained down on them, along with a few small bits, but none of the enormous pieces that were expected. But all that rubble had to go somewhere.

After a few seconds Yusuke cautiously raised his head, dust turning his hair chalky white and looked up. "Whoa." He said.

"…that's interesting." Amanuma whispered, awed.

"Yeah," agreed Kuwabara like he wasn't paying any attention to what he was saying.

They stared up at the roof, at the pieces of the ceiling that instead of crushing them into a thin gooey paste had simply…stopped. Just like that, in thin air. They floated.

"Well, well, well." A voice came from the open doorway, a quiet and amused voice. "I didn't think it was going to be _this_ interesting when I agreed to show up."

Mitari peered through the floating fragments in the air, toward the speaker, who was leaning against the doorframe. Then he made him out clearly and cried "Hagiri!"

The former Sniper had one hand spread out and held up, holding the ceiling with no apparent effort, and as he clenched his fist the rubble gathered to one clump, lowering to the floor as one as he lowered his arm. Then he looked at them, covered with dust and dumbstruck. "You called, I came as fast as I could mange. I had to pass on a job for this, it had better be important."

No one had really seen Hagiri in the subsequent two years, since he'd lost his job repairing motorcycles then turned to a much less principled trade, but it was clear those years hadn't been easy ones.

A sniper had a tough life.

His purple eyes were colder and harder than before, he gathered his hair back in a short tail, there was a white scar just below his jaw, he was dressed in dark nondescript clothing, a battered pack in hand.

After clearing his throat, Yusuke found his voice and said. "It's important, but," he started brushing dust off. "I'll explain in a minute. You know, I don't think Kurama is going to be thrilled about his roof."

"What was that anyway?" asked Kuwabara, sneezing, creating a cloud of powder.

Ignoring that for a more important question Yusuke asked. "Is everyone okay?"

"Yeah," said Mitari faintly as Amanuma nodded.

"I think so," Mengii said. "are you alright Ricky?"

"I'm in once piece, yeah, but who's this new guy?" Ricky demanded. "New people had better not be popping up all the time, this is confusing. Is he with us?" she asked.

"That's Hagiri," Mitari told her. "don't worry, he's on our side."

"Oh…good." She looked at the mass of what had formally been part of the ceiling that was on the floor. "Hate to think otherwise."

"But what _was_ that?" Kuwabara said, as he looked up at the hole.

Tearing his own gaze down from the depressing sight above Yusuke took charge. "Great question, Kuwabara, but now's not the time for it. It was probably Suzaku with lightning, which isn't good. It means they know where we are. We need to get out here. Crap, pick that up whoever's that is."

A phone was ringing.

"Annoying invention." growled Hiei under his breath.

"Don't burn it." said Yusuke quickly, knowing Hiei's general impatience with technology as a whole.

They were all patting at pockets or looking in bags in the gesture that becomes habitual to anyone owning a cell phone.

It was Kuwabara whose cell was ringing and he flipped it open, holding it to his ear.

"We have a problem." said Toya, on the other end there was some commotion and someone else appeared to take the phone from him.

"Kuwabara this is bad!" Botan yelled.

**--------------------------------------------**

**America**

**New York City**

**Street**

**--------------------------------------------**

Tracking was not usually an especially hard thing for two Shinobi to do, especially when one was a windmaster. Jin easily picked up Kurama's sent from were he lived to where he worked, it didn't take them long to find were they supposed the abduction had taken place. From there they began to work their way along the trail they could only guess that Karasu took.

But it wasn't as easy going as it would have been otherwise, the stench of the city sometimes overwhelmed Jin's nose and it was difficult for Toya to find tracks on concrete and asphalt. There were times when they lost the track altogether and had to circle back to pick it up again.

Slowly they were working their way out of the more populated areas of the city, the trail lead into districts that mostly contained warehouses. Few people frequented the sidewalks now, most of those hurried quickly along, their heads down, shoulders hunched as if to make themselves smaller targets.

The last thing that Toya heard before disaster struck was something or other saying: "So he was right, there are pursuers."

A moment later something walloped Jin out of the air and as the redhead slumped to the ground, a small orb bounced off the sidewalk. It was what had knocked Jin out.

Clenching one fist Toya formed a needle of ice, he glanced around and, seeing no one, reached curiously for the orb.

Just before his fingers touched it, a pink streak flew out of the air with a shout. "Don't touch it!"

A brawny demon burst from the cover on an alley, snatched up the orb, and ran for it.

The pink steak resolved into a well-known ferry girl. "I found you two at last." Botan said in relief. "And just in time. Didn't you recognize that demon? And that thing, too?"

"No, I'd never seen him." Replied Toya as he went for his fallen comrade.

Carefully he turned Jin over, seeing the bloody wound at his temple were it had struck the ground, he sensed something else was wrong. Worried he checked for a pulse.

Yes, it was there. Perhaps a little slow, but there.

Jin's eyes were open, staring into empty space, he was not just unconscious.

"What's wrong?" Botan asked, noticing that Toya was frowning. "Wake up Jin, I need to tell both of you something from the others back at the apartment."

"I can't wake him."

"What are you talking about? Here I'll do it." She put a hand on Jin's forehead, then quickly snatched it away. "oh jeez, this isn't good. There's no soul."

"What are you talking about?"

"That demon was Goki, he was dead but… well so was Karasu, I guess Kami brought him back too. He has a fondness for eating souls," Botan thought for a moment. "that orb must have been for taking them."

Toya was on his feet in a moment. "That Goki took his _soul_?"

"Yes but…wait!" she grabbed his arm quickly before the icemaster could take off. "Wait, don't be a fool, if you dash after him your probably just running into a trap! Think! Kurama still needs help, you know!"

There was icy vengeance in Toya's eyes. "If Jin doesn't wake up... I will kill him."

"Good, great, but not now! Look let me give you a message from Yusuke and then we need to call them. They'll need to know about this as soon as possible!"

**--------------------------------------------**

**Apartment**

**--------------------------------------------**

Kuwabara hung up the phone as Mitari finished explaining the situation to Hagiri.

"What happened?" Yusuke asked him.

Summarizing quickly Kuwabara explained. "That was our scouts and Botan. Goki's in league with Karasu, he took Jin's soul. Toya's real pissed but he thinks he knows where Karasu is, he and Botan are retreating."

"Where'd you tell them to meet us?" asked Yusuke.

"At Genkai's temple. I figured we weren't going to stick around here."

"Nope," replied Yusuke. "if Karasu know where we are to sick Suzaku on us, we need to get the hell out of this place as soon as we can."

"Plus someone is going to start wondering what all the noise was about and if they haven't called the cops, they probably will soon." mentioned Amanuma.

"That too. I hope you guys have packed your stuff, I want us out of here. We can meet up at the Dojo, about, say an hour, there's a portal there, then skip over to the temple to see what happened to the others. Anyone got a problem with that?"

"Yeah," said Hagiri. "there's some gear I want to pick up."

Yusuke shrugged. "Just try to be quick about it and you'll be late."

Turning to Mengii, Mitari asked. "What about you, don't you have to work?"

"I can suddenly develop an incapacitating illness for as long as this lasts. The same excuse will probably work for you too, Ricky."

The other detective made a face. "I'm gonna get screwed, I used up my sick days months ago. Whatever, I'll deal with it when Chi's safe. Where's the Dojo?"

"I'll show you," volunteered Yusuke. "come on."

They were going to walk out when they saw that there was a woman standing in the doorway, Hiei in front of her, glaring. Surprisingly the newcomer was scowling back, even though Hiei's Jagan was open it appeared to be having not too much of an effect.

Sweat stood out of the woman's forehead as she gritted out. "Do. Not. Try. To. Hack. My. Brain. _Out_."

"Hiei, back off!" Mengii cried. "I called her here. This is the friend to pick up the body."

The Jagan closed as Hiei snorted. "Hn."

"Hn to you too," snapped the woman. "if that's all the thanks I get for hightailing it over here. I was kinda in the middle of something you know."

"Sorry, but it was important." Apologized Mengii.

"Well, if it couldn't be helped…" The woman shrugged. She had a harshly beauty, with sharp gray eyes, her blonde hair cut at the shoulders. Moving with the coordination natural to one who lived and breathing fighting she held out a hand to Yusuke. "My name's Twilight, you must be Yusuke Urameshi. I hear from Mengii that you used to have the equivalent of my job in Japan."

Both the casual dropping of his name and the reference to his former job startled Yusuke somewhat. He shook her hand, feeling calluses and the register of power on her skin. "Um… hello. So you're an American Spirit Detective then, Twilight?"

"A what? I'm the Twilight, but things are probably set up differently on your side of the ocean. But I imagine some things are the same though. You try to do your job, kill demons and all that, then there's this annoying little guy harping on about stupid things."

Remembering Koenma, Yusuke grinned. "I know what you mean. And I'd love to trade war stories but the enemy kind of knows we're here." Yusuke nodded at the others to get going. Hagiri had already disappeared, Mitari, Mengii, and Amanuma reluctantly left, though Kuwabara and Ricky hung by the door.

"What are you going to do with the body?" asked Yusuke as Twilight knelt by the cloth covered form.

She lifted the cloth, looking under briefly before swearing. "A Hunter. Damn Mengii was right, it is one of my people." Twilight glanced over at his confused expression then explained. "My Hunters are my lackey people, this is Gwenin. Or was Gwenin." dropping the covering again she added. "I'll take her to her friends, they'll bury her or whatever. Is the bastard that killed her the one that stole your Kurama?"

"Yeah. I guess Mengii filled you in on that too."

Rising to her feet, Twilight dusted her hands off. "That she did. I worked with Kurama on a mission or two, he saved my hind end."

"So you'll help just because you owe him?" said Kuwabara.

"That's the excuse I'm using right now," she replied. "so I'm going with it. This jerk or someone under him killed one of my Hunters, I'm going to take his heart out."

"Stand in line." Hiei said, he'd stuck around too, but only to picked up a wrapped bundle from another room.

"I'll do just that, if you'll have me along."

"We're meeting at the Dojo in an hour to rendezvous at a temple, we're doing a bit of portal hopping so bring some gear if your coming along."

"I might be late." She went back over to the body.

"You won't be the only one, so just wait around for a skinny guy with purple eyes, he's Hagiri and since he'll be coming late too he can show you where the temple is. We'll make sure to leave a note for him so he'll know your coming."

"Sounds good to me." said Twilight, slipping her arms under the body she gathered her legs under her and slid the body over one shoulder. With a grunt she stood. "I'll be on my way. See you." She walked out of the still open door, kicking some small pieces of rubble out of her way. "We'll get him back, with this many of us, we should be okay." And nodding at those near the door Twilight left.

"Okay, Hiei, what's in the bag?" asked Yusuke.

After a moment's pause Hiei reluctantly said. "Blazeoil."

Whistling Kuwabara shook his head. "Oil from the Makai, that lights on fire and occasionally explodes. Jeez Hiei, don't you know how illegal that stuff is? If Spirit World catches you, you're going in a cell for a long time."

With a snort Hiei walked out.

"Guess he doesn't care." Said Yusuke. "Come on, let's go."

They left, with Ricky trailing behind them asking. "Wait, what's Spirit World?"

**--------------------------------------------**

"**It's the weirdest thing, once you realize all the things you haven't been told, you get pretty pissed. Ignorance isn't bliss, it's fucking **_**annoying**_**." (Anonymous)**

**--------------------------------------------**

**TBC**


	5. Traitors, Attacks, and Pikes

**Seeker**

Dane Soar

Someone commented that it seems like Yusuke has gathered an army, and they're right, he'll need one! I'm surprised how some of the newer changes have effected the plot, Hagiri is turning out to be as much of a main character as Yusuke. How surprising!

Watch out for those villains, they like to crop up at inopportune times. And thank you reviewers, keep doing what you do, I really appreciate it!

Chapter 5** Traitors, Attacks, and Pikes**

**--------------------------------------------**

**America**

**New York City**

**Police Station**

**--------------------------------------------**

Alan Griffin leant against Kevin Ringer's desk, talking to his partner. "Don't you think it's just a little strange?"

Ringer was typing something intently, clearly only listening with half an ear. "That what's strange?"

"Suddenly Chi's not showing up, then Montes and Ricky get sick, on the exact _same_ day."

"Coincidence, Griffin. You worry too much." Ringer spared a second from typing to ruffle his friend's hair. "Their big boys and girls, they can take care of themselves."

"Jesus, I hope so," Said Griffin fervently. "because Ricky sounded real worried when she told me she was taking time off."

"She should be, I don't think she has anymore sick-days. Don't worry, they'll be fine." Ringer told him confidently.

"I hope so…" Griffin repeated. "Really, I do."

**--------------------------------------------**

**America**

**New York City**

**Dojo**

**--------------------------------------------**

Yusuke took inventory of those who had agreed to meet there. Next to him was Kuwabara, on the other side, Hiei. A few feet away Mitari stood with Mengii and Amanuma who was talking intently to Ricky as she gazed around at the Dojo with wide eyes.

"Everyone here?" asked the young man who was the owner of the Dojo, he looked very pissed, probably because it was late and they'd woken him up. "I want to go to bed."

"This is all that are coming for now, two more said they'd be late."

The young man, a lynx demon, green eyed and lean, groaned, drew his hands over his face, then smoothed his hair back. "Okay…fine. I'll make sure I send them after you. Just get out of here, I've enough to do without a kidnapping disaster on my plate, it'll be nice to get some sleep in the meantime."

"We'll be out of your hair soon enough, just give this note to the late people." Yusuke handed over a folded slip of paper to the lynx demon, who took it reluctantly.

"Sure, give me the location you want the portal opened at in the Makai." Once Yusuke gave it, the young man took a ring from his finger and turned to an open doorway. With the ease of practice, he tossed it, the ring stopped as soon as it was level with the doorframe, rotating a few times.

When the lynx demon murmured a few words under his breath and the ring pulsed, a light came from it, expanding to fill the doorframe. The glowing doorway molded with the physical one.

"There you go," said the young man. "now get out of here."

Yusuke turned to his group, demonic tattoos already flickering into view across his skin. "Alright guys, we're about to go through the Makai. Not for very long, it'll just be a run through. It's not real pleasant place so keep your eyes open and stay close. If all goes well we'll probably only be there for a few minutes. Mengii, you stick close to me, Kuwabara, stay with Mitari; Amanuma and Ricky, Hiei can look after you two." That way either a demon or a powerful psychic was with each group. It paid to be prepared.

"Everybody got it?" Yusuke asked.

There were nods all around.

"Good." He turned to the portal. "Now lets go."

**--------------------------------------------**

**Street Outside Dojo**

**Three Hours Later**

**--------------------------------------------**

Leaning against the wall, in the half dark, near a side entrance to the Dojo, Hagiri waited with his arms crossed over his chest for the other late comer. There was gear stacked around him, two crates, a bag, and a larger package in a padded case with a handle.

He kept an eye on the street as he drew the note he'd been left again from a pocket. Of course it was good that he'd been able to get this gear, it could make things a thousand times easier, but if this other person was any later Hagiri was going to leave without her.

"Oi, you!" called a woman with gray eyes who approached, a long pole with the end tied held over a shoulder.

Many might have missed the instantaneous twitch of hand to a pocket but Twilight saw it, her own free hand reached around to her back for her own weapon.

"Skinny, purple eyes, let me go out on a limb and say you're Hagiri?"

"And you're Twilight?" Hagiri held up the note. "I heard you'd be coming."

"Really. Good of them to remember." She glanced down at the crate by her foot. "That's some heavy duty equipment there, from the way you stand I'd say you're a hit-man of some sort, a sniper would be my best guess from all this," a nod at the gear. "but your aura says human. That tells me your either a psychic or real well trained…or both."

Hagiri frowned, this woman was perceptive, but she was on his side. If she hadn't been and she could tell that much she would have probably tried to kill him by now. "Your aura," he responded. "isn't quite human, though it's close, _and_ your carrying more than one hidden weapon beyond whatever psychic power you have." Excluding what was obviously also a weapon over her shoulder.

They eyed each other with the wariness of two cats who were cautiously sizing each other up, neither quite trusting the other yet.

A long second passed

Then the tension broke, hands easing away from weapons, and both relaxing. They _were_ on the same side after all.

Twilight briefly got a strange expression on her face then she knelt by one of the crates, letting the pole drop to the ground. "Oh look," she said, a tad too loudly. "one of these straps here is loose." Then in a lower tone as she fiddled with a strap on the crate she murmured. "I was followed here. I thought I lost him but he just showed up."

"Don't tighten it too much." Hagiri said, in the same louder voice as he too knelt as if to fix what she'd done, then he lowered his voice. "Where?"

"Glance over my left shoulder, you should see him." Came the muttered reply. "I only felt his energy after me, so I actually don't know what he looks like."

After taking a brief casual look Hagiri whispered. "Get ready to shield." He had recognized the man from a description that Yusuke had give him on the note. It was Suzaku. He stood. "The strap's fine, now stop messing with my gear."

"Sure." Replied Twilight also standing. Hefting the pole again she rapped on the door to the Dojo with butt end of it. "Come on, let us in, we're in a hurry."

And that was when the lightning struck, just as Twilight snapped up her shield, sending it skittering off to hit the wall. There it sliced a rent in the stone, sharp slivers flying off in all directions.

"Crap." Said Twilight emphatically.

"Yeah, that's how I would put it too." Hagiri replied as thunder rolled in the sky above. "I think we're going to be very, _very_ late."

**--------------------------------------------**

**Japan**

**Genkai's Temple**

**--------------------------------------------**

With a groan, Yusuke leaned against a wooden pillar on the porch. He'd just come from talking with an annoyed Toya, who'd filled him in on the situation with Goki and the state of Jin.

This complicated matters a lot.

What really worried Yusuke was that he remembered Botan saying how souls out of their bodies, but not in the form of a ghost, would fade after a while. That had been the problem the first time with Goki, with the children's souls. A demon's soul was undoubtedly more resilient, it would last longer, but that didn't mean it wasn't _bad_.

"This just keeps getting better and better." He sighed. At once he had the urge to leap into it right then and there, go for Kurama, get him away from that nightmare, kill Karasu, Goki too while he was at it, save the day.

But it wasn't that simple these days.

Straightening up, Yusuke paced the temple's long porch, restlessly, willing the two late comers to show up so they could plan in earnest and finally get to rescuing. Twice around the main building he walked impatiently, kicking at leaves grumpily. It was on his second time around he saw Hiei, who stood near some of the older trees around back of the temple.

Yusuke paused, seeing how the dark demon stood. He knew Hiei brooding or even Hiei sulking, but this wasn't it. With his hands buried in his pockets, Hiei looked at the ground with a little too much concentration.

"Oh, no." hopping off the porch, Yusuke sat on it's edge, peering at Hiei. "Boy, you've really changed. I'd never have thought you'd do this back in the old days, guess all that hanging around Kurama had to rub off somehow."

"What are you talking about?" said Hiei, dully.

A grin touched Yusuke's face. "Is this a case of honest-to-goodness _guilt_ from Hiei? Wow, this is weird."

That got a spark from Hiei, a literal spark, Yusuke slapped a hand hurriedly over the ember on his knee, putting it out.

Better than nothing though.

Crossing his arms Hiei glared, not at Yusuke, but up at the tree branches. "I never really bothered with things like feelings, but sticking around Kurama…makes it hard not to. But it feels so _stupid_, I keep thinking of things that are not useful, like how I should have…" he drifted off with an exasperated sigh.

"Yeah, I know, guilt. It sucks. All that should have, could have, would have stuff."

"I should have figured out what was going on sooner, what an fool I was. Maybe if I could have put it together sooner, figured out that Karasu was alive, I would have been able to…" again Hiei stopped, kicking at the fallen leaves at the foot of the tree. "…able to have done _something _to prevent Kurama from getting taken." Pacing as Yusuke had done not too long ago, Hiei fell silent once more, glowering.

As for Yusuke himself, he was between laughing and being depressed. It was almost funny to see Hiei like this, but at the same time it was a little sad. _Even he gets worried sometimes, I guess,_ Yusuke thought. _and I suppose he changed over time just like the rest of us. Hard to live in the human world without picking something up. Besides, this situation is bringing out the frustration in all of us. _

The silence lingered between them, heavy and tinged with just a hint of hopelessness.

"By the way," Hiei had halted his pacing for a moment. "I thought to give you a warning, all these people you're gathering, you should make sure they're on your side completely."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you think it would be useful, if you were in Karasu's position, to have a spy among the ranks of those most likely to try to attack him? Make sure of all those coming here there isn't a traitor. If there was, they could be able to kill us off one by one or be reporting our plans, and that's the last thing we need."

"I'll keep in mind." said Yusuke, before the silence came back.

**--------------------------------------------**

**Street Outside Dojo**

**--------------------------------------------**

Both Hagiri and Twilight watched Suzaku carefully, Twilight still holding her shield in place against new lightning bolts.

The former Saint Beast wore an all-enveloping cloak, his hood back so his bright hair gleamed in the light of the streetlamps, for night had fallen in earnest on this side of the ocean. Sparks played from one red antenna to the other erratically, brilliant illumination in the gloom.

The door to the Dojo was closed, the protection the wards around it offered only a foot or so away.

With a casual flick of his hand, Suzaku sent a bolt of lightning at them. As it impacted with Twilight's shield, a thin rope of lightning twisted through, Hagiri winced as it skittered off his arm, making the metal bracelet on his wrist tingle.

He was quick to wrench off the bracelet when it began making the fabric of his jacket burn, tossing it away. "What's with that?" he demanded.

"Lightning is a hard to block completely, and this guy's energy is all over!" replied Twilight, as she hefted the pole to keep it from piercing her shield. "The occasional thing is gonna leak through every now and then."

The door that led to the Dojo opened at that very moment the head of the clan himself peering through. "What's all this noise abou—Ah! _Hey_!" he had leant too far from the door, through was wards and had had to duck a stray strand of lightning.

"More witnesses." said Suzaku, in evident disgust. "If anyone else wants to show up so I can finish them off, I would appreciate it if they would make their presence known."

"Who sent you?" demanded Twilight. "Was it that Karasu guy everyone keeps talking about?"

"Naturally." Suzaku gritted out between his teeth as he appeared to exert great effort to toss the next batch of lightning bolts. The sparks playing on his antenna seemed to be dwindling too.

Inside the shield Hagiri said something quietly to Twilight, she nodded and said something inaudible back.

As the lightning ricocheted off the shield, Twilight lowered the pole so the butt end rested on the ground, she reached up and unwrapped the cloth from the other end revealing a long silver curved blade. The pole was a pike.

This drew Suzaku's gaze, the silver blade was marked with words of power meant to slay dark and evil things. As he was distracted, Hagiri slung his bag over his shoulder picked the remainder of his gear and threw it at the young man in the open doorway.

He fell over from the impact, clearing the way into the Dojo and was once again inside the protection of the wards.

Twilight thrust the blade of the pike beyond her shield, drawing the new bolt of lightning to the blade to the metal, feeling the tingle through the wood. "Hey, Hagiri, now would be the time to run."

"What about you?" demanded Hagiri.

"I've got a plan, if you want to help me, we could both actually come out of this."

There were more whispers between them that, much to Suzaku's annoyance, he couldn't catch it over the lightning and something was passed from Twilight to Hagiri's hand.

"You're going to die, stop discussing things!" Suzaku yelled at the two in frustration. He needed to dispose of the two of them, then lure the other demon from the safety for the wards to make sure there were no witnesses to run to the former Spirit Detective. The less people that could come to Yusuke's aid the better.

"Ready?" Hagiri asked Twilight.

She smiled. "I was going to ask you the same thing," the she hefted the pike and threw it at Suzaku.

As it flew, the metal attracted the next lightning bolt, Suzaku dived out of the path of the blade and his own electricity. Just as Twilight snapped the shield down, Hagiri raised the handgun she'd passed him and fired.

Only because Suzaku was falling to the side did he avoid a fatal shot. Instead it hit him in his shoulder, wetness quickly spreading over the cloak.

Meanwhile Hagiri and Twilight had been making a beeline for the open Dojo door, hurtling through the wards and practically falling over each other.

They were safe.

Outside, Suzaku painfully drew himself to his feet, hand to his wound, he growled angrily, thrusting his free arm toward the Dojo door.

But nothing happened.

Suzaku peered at his own hand in mystification for a perplexed moment, then understood. Damn his erratic power!

He clenched his fist, he knew his power was unlikely to kick back in soon, not after he'd called so much lightning and the while bullet in his shoulder ached this much.

Well, Karasu hadn't really expected him to catch any stragglers, it had been just an off-chance.

He fled with a flutter of his cloak.

Inside the Dojo, Hagiri carefully picked himself up from the grass, at once checking his gear making sure none of it had been damaged.

"What was that?" demanded the owner of the Dojo as he too climbed to his feet.

"That was a really close shave, Hitzen," said Twilight. "and, oh _damn_! My pike! He better not have taken it." She peered out the door and seeing the discarded weapon outside smiled.

"I don't think that it would be a good idea to go out there and get it." Hagiri zipped the padded case back shut after he checked what was inside. "Who knows where Suzaku has gotten to."

"Don't have to go out," Twilight held out an arm and twitched her fingers, on the street her pike glowed briefly, then it was in her hand. "it's mine so I can call it if I really need to. But Hagiri, I can't believe you actually hit that guy. I didn't think you would, I just wanted him to get distracted, even if was a wide shot. The bastard was moving and everything, you must be good."

Hagiri shrugged. "I don't miss. If I'd had more time I could have taken him out, that shoulder shot was a little off as is. Oh, and this is yours," he passed her the handgun back.

She took it and stowed it away. "Thanks. Now let's grab your gear and get to rescuing. Hitzen," Twilight said. "I know you need sleep right now, but we need to be over there _yesterday_."

They gathered Sniper's things, heading toward the main Dojo building.

**--------------------------------------------**

**Genkai's Temple**

**--------------------------------------------**

Yusuke and Hiei were still sitting in silence when Kuwabara called around the corner. "Guys, people just walked through the front shields."

That was enough to galvanize the other two into motion, within moments the three were charging across the lawn toward the steps in front of the temple ready for action. When they reached the top they peered down the flight to see two climbing the steps as great speed.

One was black haired, the other blond.

"Finally." Hiei said. "They arrive."

And so they did, with some amount of huffing and puffing from Twilight, who was carrying the crates, with her pike over her shoulder again.

As Yusuke opened his mouth to ask, Hagiri cut him off. "We were attacked. Suzaku, but we managed to get past him."

"He shot him," added Twilight. "which is bound to slow the guy down. Plus his aura was strange, I don't think Lightning Man can control him power so well."

"Damn, I never thought they'd would guess we'd go to the Dojo," Yusuke said with a sigh. "It's probably got the only established portal in New York, as far as I know."

"You guys really took your time." Mitari and Amanuma were walking up, it was Amanuma who had spoken.

"Hello to you guys too." Hagiri shifted the bag on his shoulder. " By the way, is there anywhere I can put this?" he gave a very pointed look at Yusuke that suggested it was him he was asking.

"Oh, um, yeah, there's any empty room, I can show you." After grabbing the crates Twilight had discarded he lead Hagiri there.

When he discarded the gear he slid the door shut behind him. "Okay, what is it?" he asked.

Hagiri settled the padded case and looking up at Yusuke. "It's somewhat strange but… I got a call from the man who sets up my jobs, before I knew anything about all this. I was offered a job. It was to kill the people who were in Kurama's apartment by a demon who called himself Karasu."

_So this was why he got me alone!_ Yusuke thought at once, Hiei's words from earlier echoing in his ears. _Oh-oh, I'm about to be picked off!_ He reacted at once, a fist whipping out to strike Hagiri across the jaw.

Because he put power behind it, he sent the other man across the room, to slam into the wall. At once there was a knife in Hagiri's hand, even as he was getting his breath back. However Yusuke was faster.

He plucked the weapon from the human's hand, slamming his arm into the other's throat, smashing his back against the wall. Slowly he increased the pressure so the psychic couldn't breathe.

It was easy to see the demon glinting in Yusuke's eyes as he held the blade to Hagiri's neck, oddly echoing the scar there, mere inches were between them as Yusuke hissed. "You bastard."

"…w…wh…" but Hagiri couldn't get enough air to say anything else, little black lights were dancing in his vision, he reached for his power, but couldn't concentrate enough. His hands scrabbled at Yusuke's arm, but he wasn't stronger than the demon and his fingernails were too short to dig in with.

As Yusuke pressed the blade in, until it began to draw blood.

That was when Hagiri's arms fell to his sides, too much black was in his sight. It was all getting distant for him.

"I can't believe you." Yusuke growled into Hagiri's face. He was going to stamp out this traitor once and for all. "I hope Karasu paid you some in advance, because, trust me, you're never going to live to get the rest."

But Hagiri could only hear the ringing in his ears and see a receding view of Yusuke's furious face.

**--------------------------------------------**

**"Though, Yusuke," Hiei had said, not long after the traitor talk had occurred between them. "would you be able to do it? Kill one of your own team in cold blood?"**

**He considered it for a moment. "Yeah, if I had to."**

"**Good. Maybe the Makai rubbed off on you."**

"**That might not be a good thing you know."**

**--------------------------------------------**

**TBC**


	6. Temple Meeting Interrupted

**Seeker **

Dane Soar

Yusuke was being impulsive, I agree. But, that's what he does. Three cheers for Twiddle-Dumb, the awesome editor who's quick work lets me get this to you. And thanks reviewers, I love hearing your opinions and comments, it's great!

Chapter 6** Temple Meeting Interrupted**

**--------------------------------------------**

**Somewhere…**

**--------------------------------------------**

Very cold concrete chilled Kurama's cheek as he let his head rest on the floor. He didn't have enough energy to lift it. Too much pain.

After finally, inevitably, falling through the wall of bombs he had fires of pain lancing his arm, his leg, and his side. He could feel blood pooling around him and knew he should do something about it, at least try to get up and defend himself, but somehow he couldn't find the will to rise. Terror had frozen him.

However, there was a lull in the bombardment.

A hand touched the back of his neck with strange gentleness. "Enough for now I think. Rest a bit. I'll be back soon."

Kurama heard the footsteps retreat, felt wards snap up. He wouldn't be able to leave then, even if he could rise.

So alone on the cold floor, he huddled into the tightest ball he could manage, setting his internal healing power to work. It would be easy to close over these wounds, but what about the ones to come?

He didn't know, he really didn't.

That was the thing about this situation, usually as soon as Kurama encountered something of difficulty his mind would easily present him with a dozen options. But this time…

Nothing.

It was as if someone had frozen his brain.

Or as if he was so deeply terrified he couldn't think

_This is _pitiful_. Nothing to do now but wait, and heal. And plot._

After what felt like a great amount of time, he slept briefly.

When he woke, the fire of his wounds had died down to a smoldering pain. They hurt, but they were bearable for the time being.

He'd calmed down some, enough to let his mind swing into movement.

_And now what do I do?_

For the first time he properly looked around, noting details and memorizing the placement of things. It was a large room, empty of people barring him, and containing

very little, a few miscellaneous boxes, sacks, a few scattered objects that hinted at habitation.

Very gingerly, he sat up, then, slowly and carefully so as not to open any wounds again, Kurama got to his feet. Staggering a bit, he crossed to the doorway, stopping just short of the opening.

Extending a hand he gingerly brushed the ward with his fingertips, testing the strength that they had been cast with. No good, they had been placed with quite a lot of power, Karasu's it felt like. They would contain him, built so that they could be taken down from the outside, but on the inside they where completely smooth.

_Of course that would have been too easy if there was a gap._

The narrow high windows where a lost cause too, he could see from where he was now. The wards must be covering the entire building. Settling down against a far wall Kurama crossed his arms and waited.

_I _hate_ waiting. Hate, hate, hate._

Refusing to give up was a good step, now if only he could stop panicking completely and start planning.

**--------------------------------------------**

**Japan**

**Genkai's Temple**

**--------------------------------------------**

In a few seconds, Hagiri would be as dead as dirt, the traitor in their ranks successfully eliminated.

But it wasn't quiet as simple as that.

Yusuke then made the mistake of really looking at him. Hagiri's purple eyes were curiously blank as he was losing consciousness, the face slowly going motionless. Closer to the stillness of death.

Just slitting someone's throat…and a human at that…

The knife had drawn a thin red line on the neck of the psychic, when Yusuke backed off. He couldn't just randomly kill a teammate.

_He_ wasn't Hiei.

Coughing Hagiri glared at him, even as he slumped to the floor, one hand going to his throat. Carefully he touched the tender skin, what paltry healing skill he had, he was putting to use.

"Wh…" Hagiri's voice was still a rasp, he cleared his throat. "Why do I always get strangled or shot?"

Yusuke still had the knife, he raised it.

"What the…what the hell are you doing?" understanding suddenly dawned in Hagiri's face. "Son of a bitch, you think I actually _took_ it. You think I took that job."

"You didn't?" asked Yusuke blankly, he lowered the weapon.

"Of course not! What kind of person do you think I _am_?!"

"Then why…aw damn." Yusuke realized that he might have made a mistake. "You aren't working for Karasu?"

"_No_!"

There was more than enough anger in Hagiri's voice to convince Yusuke that he had been wrong. "Crap…look… sorry. I kinda jumped to a conclusion. Hiei got me all paranoid with his traitor warnings. And the way you where talking…well, you have to admit, it was sort of suspicious. You did pull a knife on me too."

"Only after you struck first! I didn't know what the hell was going on." Hagiri climbed to his feet, now that he was able to breathe looking much more lively. "But there was no need to try to strangle me. Or cut my throat. Speaking of which, give me that back." He held out a hand for the blade. "I don't like to waste good knives."

As he did so Yusuke tried to placate the psychic. "I'm sorry, okay? Open mouth insert foot, that's me. I'm all jumpy, I wanna get Kurama back and all this waiting is driving me nuts."

"I know…" with a sigh, then a wince, Hagiri put aside his annoyance for Kurama's sake, sheathing the blade. "it's a pain waiting. But I needed to pass on some information, it's the reason I wanted to talk to you."

"What is it?"

"While I wouldn't take the job, not everyone would refuse such a well paying deal. When I picked up my equipment I heard the news. He's hired a team, two assassins, I don't know their real names but the ones they go by are, Ebony and Ivory."

"I've never heard of them." Said Yusuke.

"I'm not surprised, they work on the other side of the ocean mostly. I've run into them a few times and their bad news.

"Ivory's human, but a powerful psychic, her power's something to go with immobilizing people. Some sort of reverse telekinesis, like she holds people in limbo. And as for Ebony…I'm not really sure what he does, he's a demon though and the rumors say something about controlling. And I did hear something about a gang of troll demons, but I don't know the details of that."

With a frown Yusuke crossed his arms. "So if you're not going to try to kill me, why did you make such a point of having this conversation alone?"

"Mitari and Amanuma. They had walked up and the last thing I want to do is make everyone panic. You know who needs to know about the assassins. And…" he ran a hand through his hair. "Mitari and Amanuma, damn, their too young to be involved in this sort of thing. It's a tough world and I don't want them getting killed in a crossfire."

"They made the choice to be here." Yusuke pointed out. "And believe me, they won't appreciate being protected. If you think about it, they aren't took much younger." he shrugged. "Still I get where your coming from. I'll spread the word around quietly. And as for those two, if you're all worried about them, ask what they've learned under Mengii. You might be surprised."

"If you insist, I'll do that." Hagiri hefted the padded case over his shoulder, there was a light cut on his throat, but no other trace of the rather conversation showed. "Let's go then."

"Aren't you going to leave that big thing here?"

"No," he patted the case, which was large, three feet by three feet, though it was thin. "this is my trump card. I'd rather not leave it behind."

"If you want." Yusuke shrugged. "I guess we all have our safety blankets." He slid the door open and walked out.

"Though some are a lot more sharp and pointy than others." muttered Hagiri before he followed.

**--------------------------------------------**

Meanwhile, blissfully unaware of what had been going on in other parts of the Temple, Mitari and Amanuma were giving Mengii and Ricky a tour of the grounds. They couldn't start planning without the others, and they also needed to distract themselves. Botan had been with them, but had drifted off to talk to Yukina.

"This reminds me of the Dojo some," said Mengii. "though this place is larger in some ways.

"But it's all so beautiful!" Ricky exclaimed, turning around in a circle to view the distant misty mountains and forests. "I can't believe Chi wouldn't want to live somewhere as pretty as this. I grew up in New York, skyscrapers and smoggy air."

"Well, why you do live there if it is so polluted?" asked Yukina, she stepped from the temple porch, walking toward them.

Ricky eyed the small girl, with the strange colored hair and odd eyes. "'Cause it's my home. Who are you?"

"This is Yukina, she lives at the Temple." Mitari explained.

"Hey Yukina," Mengii said. "it's good to see you again, how are you? I heard something about you being frozen not very long ago."

"It's good to see you also, Mengii. And I'm well enough, being frozen, thankfully, had no adverse effects. But…I was just speaking with Toya," she looked troubled. "he's rather angry."

"I would imagine." Said Amanuma. "Considering Jin."

"Who's Jin?" asked Ricky at once. She was learning that it was better to ask at once or otherwise people would forget to explain to her exactly who they where nattering on about.

"He is Toya's partner, the two of them fought together for many years before they came to stay here." Yukina explained. "I tried to do what I could for Jin, but there is no real cure for having lost your soul, except for it's return."

"Not good." Mengii summarized. "In a nutshell."

"Uh-oh." Said Ricky, when her phone rang. She turned away, holding her cell to her ear.

"So how have you been?" inquired Yukina, to cover up the awkward moment as Ricky talked into her phone. "Is teaching agreeing with you?"

Mitari sniggered elbowing Amanuma.

"Cut that out you two." Mengii said at once. "And teaching is well enough, I like it more than I thought I would. These two can be real monkeys sometimes, but their good kids."

"That's that," Ricky was putting her phone away. "it's over."

"What is?" said Mitari.

"Apparently my girlfriend didn't appreciate not being told were I ran off to. I wouldn't tell her what was going on, so she left."

"I'm sorry." Yukina said sympathetically.

"No, it was coming anyway, we weren't getting on so well. She was clingy. But that's not important right now. There's nothing I can do over here about it over here anyway."

Yusuke approached them, Hagiri. "Do you know where Hiei is?" Yusuke asked the group of psychics.

"Over there, by the trees." Amanuma pointed around the side of the temple, they'd passed him pacing on their quick tour.

Leaving them, Yusuke walked over to Hiei and held out a folded paper to him. The Jagan burned briefly in Hiei's forehead as he took it, not even needing to unfold it to read what was written. With a snort he crumbled the paper in his fist, a second later there was a soft _wumph_, and he let the ash drift away.

"I'll keep an eye out." Hiei told him, blurred into black, then was gone.

Only a few minutes later, Ricky would see Hiei going to speak to Kuwabara, but didn't know them well enough to understand how strange this was. She over heard Kuwabara say: "Assassins!" and saw Hiei snap something and disappear.

Three minutes later Kuwabara asked Botan where Twilight was.

"She's by the front steps, sharpening that great horrible pike of hers."

"Thanks." Kuwabara went and found Twilight.

Bit by bit the word passed from person to person, though only a few were told. The demons who made the temple their home where keeping out of the way, or had left for a bit as the temple was probably not a good place to be just then.

"Well, I'll be damned," Twilight said of the assassins, putting down the whetstone she'd been using to sharpen her pike-blade. "we're getting some company, that should be interesting." She smiled a smile that had a razorblade in it as she angled the pike so the blade glinted in the light.

"Interesting would be how I would put it too." Kuwabara's smile wasn't too nice either. They both where very interested in causing some hell, her for her slain underling, he to rescue his friend. "I have to say I can't wait."

**--------------------------------------------**

Running out of things to show Mengii and Ricky, Mitari and Amanuma had drifted away, the two of them together as a habit. They always got along, living as roommates and training under the same teacher meant that they were close. In times like this they clung to what they knew.

Which was why they where strolling laps around the Temple, something to do, something too keep them from thinking too much. Until Hagiri waved them over that is.

"So the two of you have been learning under a teacher?" he asked them, he was sitting on the porch, the padded package settled against his leg. He obviously had been waiting for them to come by.

"Yeah," said Amanuma. "we weren't so good at the 'defending ourselves' thing. Which seemed bad."

"Really?"

"It was his idea." Mitari muttered.

"You thought it was good too!"

"Alright, alright." Hagiri cut them off before a squabble began. "I'd like to know what you've learned."

**--------------------------------------------**

Toya was unbelievably angry.

As an icemaster, he was usually a calm person, carefully controlling his feelings, but this fury was more potent that anything he'd ever felt.

Before it had simply been a want to rescue Kurama, who he owed for sparing his life in the Dark Tournament and offering him a place in the next one.

Now Jin lay, soulless and fading, and Toya was finding it hard to not ice coat the room with the power of his anger alone.

His fists clenched, the temperature of the room decreasing ominously.

_They had better get to planning soon, or I'm leaving without them._

**--------------------------------------------**

**Spirit World**

**Koenma's Office**

**--------------------------------------------**

Looking at his Spirit Detective over his desk, Koenma could have sighed. _This is a disaster. Not only are criminals alive again, but Yusuke and his group would cause a lot of damage in their attempt to rescue Kurama. Yusuke'll blow up half the city to save him, then Karasu will blow up the other half in revenge. Unless they stop him first, though the amount of damage that will ensue from that…I shudder to think. Oh, my Father is going to kill me for this. _

Since Yusuke was no longer his Spirit Detective, Koenma'd been determined to make sure the next one was much more obedient. Kotori had been the result. Trained by the age of ten, the age she had died at, by the SDF she was a complete professional.

Or, as much as one person could be, though Koenma was sure that Yusuke had had a negative effect on her. After all, the first time Kotori had refused an order had been right after she'd come back from that affair with Sensui and Itsuki.

Small boned, Kotori had western blood in had as well as Japanese, which was clear by her red hair and sprinkling of freckles.

Beside her stood her assistant Sai, green haired and clashingly dressed, he was one of the few male ferry 'girls'. The cardboard box containing oar shards that he flew with under his arm.

He looked tired, and he was usually very lazy, they hadn't been able to find him for a while and had supposed that he was somewhere sleeping. However when Kotori had found him he'd been reading the case file on Karasu in records.

"Well, I heard about Kami dying and I thought it would come up." Explained Sai.

But now Koenma was ready to send them to Yusuke on their mission.

"I know you both want to go as soon as possible," the Prince began. "but I wanted to make sure that you both know the exact parameters of your mission. You are to detain the demon Goki."

"Goki, Lord Koenma?" asked Kotori in incredulously, something she wouldn't have dared done two years ago.

"Yes, not Karasu. I'm sure Yusuke and the others have him well in hand. I want you two to make sure that Goki doesn't slip through your fingers. With his fondness for souls he is capable of causing a lot of mayhem in the human world. Suzaku is more powerful, but he can't cause as much damage to people as Goki potentially could. Power outages are much more explainable than soulless bodies. So when you are there try not to get too caught up in Karasu hunting, Goki is your main goal. Remember that. Dismissed."

"Yessir." Kotori saluted and turned on her heel.

"Sure boss." Said Sai.

Together they left.

Koenma sat back in his chair. He'd wanted to say "And also don't forget to save Kurama," but couldn't.

He hoped he wouldn't regret not having said it.

**--------------------------------------------**

**Japan**

**Genkai's Temple**

**--------------------------------------------**

On the lawn, near the front steps of the Temple a table had been set up, Twilight unrolled a map of New York.

Toya joined them and they officially started to plot.

As Toya scanned the map for where he'd been when Goki had attacked him and Jin, Kuwabara jerked upright.

He'd keyed all the wards around the temple to him, since he was the one who had cast the new ones. They where medium power, which was about as powerful as possible around such a large building.

"What is it?" asked Yusuke, who'd seen him look sharply toward the front steps.

"Something just forced their way through the wards down there…" he replied.

**--------------------------------------------**

"**Trouble, unlike death, never knocks."**

**(Anonymous)**

**--------------------------------------------**

**TBC**


	7. The First Fight

**Seeker**

Dane Soar

Fight scenes are always a lot harder than I think they'll be.

Well thanks for the reviews and here's the next chapter!

Chapter 7 **The First Fight**

**--------------------------------------------**

**Japan**

**Genkai's Temple**

**--------------------------------------------**

"What is it?" asked Yusuke, who'd seen Kuwabara look sharply toward the front steps.

"Something just forced their way through the wards down there…" he replied.

At least those that heard Kuwabara speak had some sort of warning before the Territory snapped open. Up the stairs it rolled in the blink of an eye, preceding whoever it belonged to.

The air turned yellow and heavy, weighing limbs down and trapping them.

Yusuke struggled, but it was as if the tinted air was stopping him. "Damnit! I can't move!"

"Ivory…" Hagiri said softly, with a little horror. "Damn, that was fast. Don't struggle, it just gets tighter."

"What the hell _is_ this?" demanded Twilight. "Some sort of restraining thread or something?"

"It's Limbo," Hagiri said. "not thread, energy."

Both Mitari and Amanuma had been standing slightly behind him, and they had both been struggling up until he said that.

"Is this something that Karasu's done?" Mitari wanted to know.

"It's an assassin," Kuwabara explained. "but I didn't think they'd dare attack us while we were still here!"

A person was now coming to the top of the stairs. She stepped gently onto the grounds, looking at them all stuck there in her yellow air, heavy as syrup, like a spider looks at flies stuck in it's web.

The woman was small and slim, an albino with translucent pale skin, white hair, and pink eyes, dressed in cream and light browns. "Good to see you again, Sniper." Ivory said. Her voice was soft, not much beyond a whisper, but it echoed through her Limbo so clearly they could hear every word. "I must say, Ebony and I are really quite grateful to you for turning down this job. We are being paid rather well for our troubles."

"Hey!" Yusuke interrupted. "How about turning off the evil yellow crap if we promise to be good little boys and girls? My legs and arms are going numb. We can work this out between the two of us. Fist to fist." He raised his eyebrows.

Ignoring him, Ivory walked toward the map table, she still spoke to Hagiri, who was frozen at the far end. "But, our last encounter in mind, I came instead of unleashing Ebony on you. He so wanted to speak to you again after Dallas, but I insisted."

Hagiri snorted.

Meanwhile Toya, who had been bent looking at the map when Limbo came, listened intently to the conversation he couldn't see. With great effort, he was able to move the fingers of the hand that had been pointing at the map just a bit. Ice crusted over them, casting a soft glow.

Then a bullet pinged off the table, inches from his hand, snapping his concentration.

Lowering the gun she'd drawn, Ivory shook her head. "Now, now, don't do that or I won't miss the next time."

"Stop, Toya." Yusuke ordered. "I know you're pissed, but if she shoots you you're not going to do Jin any good."

After a sideways glare at him, Toya let the ice over his fingers slip back to water, which splattered down onto the map, blurring a few lines. "Fine." He snapped.

"So Ivory," said Hagiri. "remembering that I saved your life in the aftermath of Dallas, will you do me a favor?"

"I'm not letting you go from my Limbo."

"And I'm not asking you to. Let these two go." Hagiri inclined his head an inch backwards at Mitari and Amanuma.

Ivory raised a translucent eyebrow. "Why would you want that?"

"Come on, Ivory, look at them, they're just kids. Let them get out of this mess. Hell, they shouldn't even be here but she," Hagiri flicked his eyes at Mengii. "made a point of bringing them."

"And who are they to her?" asked Ivory, her eyes narrowing, she was obviously looking for the trick.

"My students," interrupted Mengii. "And I agree, they're too young to be in this mess."

Expecting to hear protests from Mitari and Amanuma, Yusuke glanced as far back as he could, as he couldn't turn his head. Strangely, those two hadn't said a word all this time.

And Ivory was gazing at them in a considering way. "Yes, they do look very young, Sniper. I was near that age when I entered this business." she shivered, pulling her tan coat closer around her shoulders. "And I was too much a child indeed. Very well, I will let them go."

To Yusuke's surprise, when he glimpsed the two in question's faces, they didn't look angry at being called young, as he'd expected. Actually there was something in the way Mitari had his face arranged and Amanuma his eyes open very wide that made them look much younger and somehow more sympathetic.

Waving her hand dismissively, Ivory let her Limbo fade from them. They fell, but didn't move.

"What's wrong with them?" demanded Botan with concern.

Amanuma twitched, clutching his arms and Mitari groaned, apparently in pain as he trembled.

"Let me go," Yukina begged. "they're hurt, I can help them, it would only take a moment. You can put me back in then if you want to."

"They'll be fine," said Ivory. "the longer my Limbo holds you the more likely it is that will happen. Blood flow is reduced. Imagine when your foot falls asleep, except all over. It wears off." She shrugged. "Perhaps they won't even be here when I kill you. Who knows?"

Struggling, Yusuke was able to clench his fists. So even if they got out of Limbo, they wouldn't be able to do anything because of the pins and needles and if they showed any sign of resistance, they'd be shot. Or maybe she'd shoot them anyway.

_But in the meantime, even if those two are loose, they're not going to do much more than twitch, _he thought. _Shit, this is bad._

"And you!" Ivory's voice rose only a bit when she wheeled to point the gun suddenly at Hiei. "Stop those flames!"

If anything the flames that flickered around Hiei's arm grew more intense. He had a thunderous expression on his face, one that suggested things were about to be incinerated.

"Put them out," demanded Ivory. "or I'll shoot you where you stand in my Limbo."

The fire became black around his arm, it was apparently not affected by her forced immobility.

"We are wasting time." Hiei said, slowly and deliberately. "Kurama is _dying_, because we are _wasting_ time with this minion." With each word his flames flared a little higher.

"I will shoot you!"

"Hiei…" Yusuke said warningly. "just put them out, we can find some other way out of this."

"No time." snapped Hiei.

"We still _have_ time. Put them out."

"No."

"Hiei if you use the Dragon here, we could all go up in flame! _Think_! Then no one will be able to help Kurama!" this was the reason Yusuke hadn't Spirit Gunned Ivory on the spot. There was too much of a chance of someone else getting caught in the blast, standing close as they where.

But Hiei was too angry to listen to anything like sense, a thin ropey dragon began to form around his arm, rapidly gaining in thickness.

Like the professional she was Ivory aimed and fired once. Hiei jerked and his flames went out like a soap bubble that had been popped.

"_No_!" Kuwabara yelled. "Hiei, you _idiot_!"

With another dismissive wave of her hand, Ivory removed her Limbo's power over him and Hiei slumped to the grass. "One bullet, precisely to the brain, the Limbo prevent any flying debris, however that is as good a indicator as anything else." She pointed to the blood that had begun to seep out from under Hiei's hair.

He'd fallen in such a way it was impossible to see if there was any expression on his face, though the faces of the dead weren't known for their mobility.

_This is one of those bad dreams, the kind that you wake up from and it'll all okay,_ Yusuke thought, in that frozen instant before things got worse. _I'll wake up in a second and Kayko will be beside me, Kurama and Hiei only a phone call away. And we'll all be okay because this can't be real._

"Urameshi!" Kuwabara yelled all of the sudden. "Someone just walked in!"

"What! Who?" _Please be Sai and Kotori,_ Yusuke mentally prayed. _we need a Spirit Detective right now. Hell, we need anyone!_

"I can't tell, I don't know." Kuwabara had a despairing note to his voice; he was staring at Hiei and the blood.

"What are you talking about?" demanded Ivory.

"Hey, albino lady," called Twilight from the end of the table. "you're a pretty good shot when everyone's forced to be still. I wonder if you'd be as good if we could do more than wriggle. But then again," she glanced over at Hagiri. "he'd a pretty good shot too. Speaking of which, I meant to ask, why haven't you nailed her yet, Mr. Probably-doesn't-need-his-hands-to-make-shit-fly-around?"

"If only it was that easy." Hagiri said.

"He can't," a smile touched Ivory's white mouth. "not with the way his power works."

"Damn," muttered Twilight. "and here I thought I'd clued into the plan going on here."

A warning glance was cast across the table by Hagiri. Abruptly, Twilight snapped her mouth shut.

But this short distraction had given the person climbing the stairs enough time to get to the top. They stood at the top of them for a moment, staring the strange scene for a moment before giving out a surprised: "Oh!"

Ivory whirled and in almost the same movement shot.

Kayko cried out as the bullet hit her shoulder, the impact enough to send her tumbling down the temple steps.

"Kayko? Kayko!" Yusuke practically glowed in his fury. "_Kayko_!"

Meanwhile, others around the table had not been idle. Once the pins and needles faded a little, both Mitari and Amanuma, almost at the same time, dug in their pockets.

Coming up with a knife and a bottle of water, Mitari wasted no time in putting his thumb to the blade, then with the other hand his unscrew the water bottle he dunked the bleeding thumb in it and started concentrating.

"Remember not to use your territory." Amanuma muttered, he'd managed to struggle into a kneeling position and was holding something behind his back with both hands.

"I know." hissed Mitari, his closing his eyes the better to concentrate.

A long, snakelike ribbon of water whipped out to wrap itself around Ivory's shoulders, just as she was about to fire at Yusuke. The gun was jerked upright and the bullet went up into the air.

Meanwhile Amanuma pushed a switch on his video game controller behind his back stretching out his power at the same time Mitari struck. Hopefully the one would overshadow the other.

And hopefully he would be able to puppet the right…ah! He'd gotten it!

_The hell…_said a voice. _Oh…it's you. That was fast._

_Hey, Hagiri_. Amanuma thought. _So how about that plan that you thought up, eh?_

**--------------------------------------------**

**Roughly An Hour Ago**

**--------------------------------------------**

"Alright, alright." Hagiri had cut them off before the squabble could begin. "I'd like to know what you've learned."

And they'd made no short work of telling him what they'd learned, with great satisfaction at the fact that they'd gained power.

"That could be useful." Hagiri frowned. "Now, listen, you two," he gestured for them to come closer, though there was no one around to overhear. "this is what we're going to do in case something happens…"

**--------------------------------------------**

**Now**

**--------------------------------------------**

Much to the surprise of Mengii, Ricky, and Yusuke, who were across from him, Hagiri lifted the padded case that was in his hands and slowly started unzipping it.

"What _is_ this?" Ivory's voice rose in pitch as she vainly fought the hold of the water creature, Mitari's forehead was wrinkled in concentration as he tried to keep it from falling apart.

"How is he movin…" Ricky began, but cut off as Twilight leveled a glare at her that could scorch off eyebrows.

Hagiri glared too, even as his hands moved, completely unzipping one side of the case, a sure hint that he wasn't exactly in control of what he was doing.

It was Mengii who cottoned on first, though all this took less than moments. Her eyes flickered over to Amanuma, who was sweating as he worked to counteract the power of the Limbo in one specialized area.

Lifting the case, Hagiri turned it upside-down, a sheet of glass tumbled out, toward the ground.

When it hit, it made a mock cheerful tinkling sound, shattering into a myriad of pieces.

The sound caught Ivory's attention. "What is…how did…" she said in surprise.

But Hagiri was looking down at the pile of glass on the grass. Very slowly and deliberately, he raised his eyes. With them rose the shards of glass, each one a sharp and deadlydagger on it's own.

Kuwabara laughed suddenly. It was not a nice laugh.

And Hagiri spoke one word. "_Strike_."

A thousand blades found their way into Ivory's pale skin. She screamed, and her Limbo shattered.

The sound it made was similar to the glass shattering, though the fragments of the Limbo faded away instead of falling to the ground. That was not all that fell, those who had been in the Limbo fell too, twitching as the pins and needles attacked with a vengeance.

Luckily Ivory was too busy trying to pull shards of glass from her skin to do anything else. As the Limbo had broken, Mitari had lost control of his creature; it'd dropped to the earth to sink in as water. She cast a desperate look around the grounds, barring Sniper and the two…_children_ the rest where still unable to move. Ivory turned to flee.

"Nice try, _bitch_." A bullet slammed into her leg. As it gave out from under her, she looked back.

Ricky was standing, actually standing, her gun held in both shaking hands. "Give me Chi back," she growled.

With the demon blood in him quick to flood his veins again, Yusuke stood, in an instant he was next to Ivory, grabbing her up by the front of her coat. Demonic tattoos started to flicker into view over his skin.

"You hurt Kayko," he said to the bleeding albino, his voice strained with power held barely in check. "You _hurt_ her."

"I…I just…a job…I'm a profession…al" she spluttered.

He shook her bodily. "You hurt my wife!" with a simple flick of his arm he sent the assassin flying across the grounds, to crash into the soil in a cloud of disturbed grass. After her in a moment, Yusuke found his path blocked by Twilight, holding her pike lengthways a little above chest level.

"Now stop right there, buddy. She might have been trying to kill us, but she's just doing her jo—" Yusuke swiped her aside as easily as if she had been made of paper. Some distance away she skidded to a halt, dazed.

However before he could even get to Ivory, she ignited. There was only one scream, then all that was left was a burnt spot on the lawn and a pile of smoldering ashes.

"What the hell?" Yusuke said, he turned, and to his surprise, he saw Hiei standing, blood smeared on his face, but standing. "I thought you where dead." His voice was more annoyed than anything else.

Hiei spat something into his hand, then held it up. It was a vaguely recognizable as a bullet.

"Whoa." Botan said in awe. "You caught it?" she was just standing up now, shaking her hands to get rid of the tingling.

"If I know it's coming, it isn't hard." Hiei replied.

"What about the blood?" demanded Yukina, who was also on her feet.

In answer Hiei held up a few shards of glass, not some of Hagiri's, they had a green glint and appeared to be what remained of a little jar. "Vial of blood. I smashed it as I fell. It's an old trick of… Kurama's."

Because they knew him, Yusuke and Kuwabara heard the faint pause in his voice before he said the name. When they both glanced over they saw the briefest flash of pain in Hiei's face, before he reached up an arm to wipe the blood from his face.

Rising from where she had been thrown, Twilight swore as she touched the ribs Yusuke's blow had struck. "Jesus, that hurt." After wrenching the pike from were it'd landed in the earth, she marched up to Yusuke, something in her eyes reminiscent of how Genkai used to glare at him. "You. I'm on your side. _Remember_, dumbass? Don't start attacking your people! Who was the girl on the stairs, anyway?"

A look of horror crossed Yusuke's face briefly as the demonic tattoo faded from his skin. "Oh man, _Kayko_!" he bolted for the stairs.

"That was his wife," explained Mitari, who was wiping blood from his thumb. Good thing he carried band-aids. "He always gets annoyed when Kayko's in danger."

Meanwhile Yukina and Botan had hiked up their kimono skirts and gone running after Yusuke. Both healers disappeared down the stairs.

With an awkward sort of yelp Hagiri fell over.

"Sorry!" Amanuma called as his knees gave out from under him. "I couldn't hold it anymore."

Walking over Ricky toed the prone psychic. "You okay?"

"Call it a delayed reaction." Hagiri gritted out from between his teeth.

"I can't believe that hair-brained plan actually worked," said Amanuma, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

Snorting, Hagiri got to his feet, shaking as the numb feeling screwed with his coordination. "Yeah, I'm still surprised too. I didn't think it would run that smoothly."

"By the way, how did you start moving so quickly?" Twilight asked Ricky.

The cop shrugged. "I just was thinking that I needed to get up and do something before that bitch got away."

"Interesting." Twilight's eyes narrowed as she looked at Ricky. She tapped her chin. "Very interesting…"

**--------------------------------------------**

At the bottom of the steps, Yusuke propped a limp Kayko up as Yukina placed a cool hand on her forehead.

Yukina looked surprised. "A few bruises and the gunshot in the shoulder but I'm working on fixing that. Botan?"

"On it." Botan was rolling up her sleeve.

"What are you going to do?" demanded Yusuke.

"Yukina can't close over her shoulder wound while the bullet is still in there, so I need to take it out." That was all the warning he had before Botan trust her fingers into the wound and started rummaging around.

"What the hell?" Yusuke was briefly glad that Kayko wasn't awake to be seeing this.

"Oh!" said Yukina suddenly. "That's strange." She looked at Yusuke. "Do you know?"

"Know what?" he said perplexedly.

"Then I suppose I shouldn't tell you."

"Yukina, what are you talking about?"

"…why don't you ask Kayko when she wakes up?"

"Look…just tell me, is she okay?"

"Surprisingly yes. After that long fall down those stone steps she should have at the least a concussion. But…nothing." She shook her head. "Astounding, I don't understand it at all."

With a cry of triumph, Botan jerked her hand back from the wound. Between her two bloody fingers was a gory lump. "Ewww." She flicked it away and wiped her hand off on the grass.

Kayko had made a pained sound when the bullet had been ripped out, but when Yukina put her other hand on her other cheek she settled. "She should be all right. Probably you should take her back up to the temple."

"I can't believe we all managed to survive this." Said Botan, with relief.

"I'm still in shock." Yusuke said blankly. "I don't think that it's sunk in. Give me a minute." He looked down at his unconscious wife. "A long minute."

"You know," Botan said. "it occurs to me that we shouldn't have killed Ivory."

"Why not?" There was a dangerous tone in Yusuke's voice.

"Because we could have found out a lot of things if we'd bothered to question her!"

"Oh. I didn't think of that."

Botan put a hand to her head. "Why am I not surprised?"

**--------------------------------------------**

Not more than a few minutes later, Kotori and Sai showed up, Kayko had been put in one of the rooms in the temple with Yukina to watch over her, and once again they where gathered around the table with the map.

"You're supposed to be going after Suzaku?" Yusuke said in surprise, when Kotori explained in what capacity she was there in. "Are you sure?"

"Positive." replied Kotori. "Lord Koenma was very specific. He believes that Suzaku can cause more damage if he escapes."

"Alright, but I guess that means you'll be coming with us anyway. Suzaku is probably in the same place as Karasu."

"Exactly, so until we find him, you have both our aid," said Kotori as Sai nodded fervently.

"Which reminds me," interrupted Kuwabara. "aren't we supposed to be plotting?"

"Say planning, it sounds more legal." Mengii said.

Kuwabara shrugged. "Laws are the last thing we need to worry about."

**--------------------------------------------**

**Somewhere…**

**--------------------------------------------**

As time passed and nothing happened, Kurama found that vague beginnings of plans coming.

There were ways to escape a ward…

Now if only any of those ways were viable here.

It was a relief in some ways. If he could plan than he could save himself. If he couldn't…

Well it was a relief he _could_, and he'd leave it there.

_I wish I had just a bit of greenery to work with,_ He thought. _It might make this easier._

Then a thought struck him and he reached his hand out to touch a nearby crate. It would be difficult to wake the dead wood, but not impossible. Of course, he didn't really have too many other options so he wasn't about to be picky.

No good. The crate slats were not made of wood but of some sort of recycled plastic. Kurama usually was all for recycling, anything that helped the earth, but just then he was mentally cursing it.

There went one chance. But there would be others. He wasn't about to lay down here and give up.

What would benefit from that?

**--------------------------------------------**

"**After all, if I let myself get killed by you, I won't be able to protect anybody, now will I?" **

**(Ban Midou Get Backers)**

**--------------------------------------------**

**TBC**


	8. Take Off to Rescue Finally

**Seeker**

Dane Soar

Someone asked if there are a set number of chapters for this story, but, no. I wouldn't like to put an exact number on it but I might say around twenty. I know it seems like it should be winding down but we're only about a little less than halfway through.

Like "Hunter" was halfway through at chapter fifteen, we're nearing there.

And of course, many thanks to my Editor, who does a great job in catching my typos. There are a lot of them.

Chapter 8** Take Off to Rescue (Finally)**

**--------------------------------------------**

**Japan**

**Genkai's Temple**

**--------------------------------------------**

Yukina smiled at Kayko. "So you haven't told Yusuke yet?"

The other girl groaned and put a hand over her eyes. She was lying on a mat, covered with a light blanket, she glanced between her fingers at the ceiling. "No; I've tried to a few times, but something always comes up. That's why I came here. I knew if he was away for so long something had to be happening, and that Yusuke would come here eventually. This is a good place for them to gather. So I…"

"You came to tell him?" Yukina asked.

"I did."

"Oh," the ice maiden put her hands over her mouth as she giggled. "I want to be there to see his face when you break the news to him!"

"I have to get him to stand still long enough first." Kayko made a face. "Which considering the crisis with Kurama right now, isn't too likely."

The two girls shared a secret smile only fully understood by the female race.

"Congratulations," said Yukina. "When are you due?"

**--------------------------------------------**

Toya put his finger on the map in a precise spot. "This is where Jin and I were attacked by Goki."

Leaning over the table, Twilight inspected the area. "You know, you guys are lucky I know New York so well. This is in the warehouse district, not many people around, it's the perfect place to hold someone hostage because no one would be likely to walk in on you."

"Oh, goody for us." Yusuke muttered.

"It gets better. Oddly enough," she sighed. "I've done a hostage exchange here before, a couple of years ago. But the good thing about that is that it means I think I can make the educated guess where Kurama's being held."

"Great," said Kuwabara. "where?"

"Here." She tapped an area a street over from where the two Shinobi had been stopped. "This warehouse is being sold to a new company, so that means it'll be both empty and deserted for at least a week or so. I asked a friend who has it in his best interest to know this before I left, which means I'm pretty sure this information is correct."

"I expect that would be an important thing to know." Yusuke said. _Did I ever make it a point to memorize the most likely places a kidnapper would hold a hostage while I was Spirit Detective? I don't think I did. I knew my city like the back of my hand, sure, but not demon hotspots. I suppose that makes me a crappy Spirit Detective._

"We know where they are, great. Now what are we going to do about it?" asked Hiei, edgy as before.

"We plot," Hagiri said. "or plan, depending on however legal you want it too sound."

"Sounds nice when you say that, but when it comes down to it," Botan shrugged. "we don't know all too much about planning. Face it Yusuke, when you were still the Spirit Detective you never did much planning before you ran into fights. Also you never had to organize a group this big."

"I haven't had any training in that respect either," murmured Kotori. "that's one of the few things the SDF didn't make me learn. Lord Koenma didn't want to make another team of Spirit Detectives."

"Well after what happened to the old ones…" Kuwabara muttered under his breath.

"Shut up." hissed Yusuke. "We're plotting. Or planning, or whatever the fuck we're calling it."

"You know…" Mengii was looking pensive, glancing over at Ricky who nodded.

"Yeah. I know."

"What are you two talking about?" Amanuma asked.

"We have training in organizing teams, and in hostage situations."

"What do you suggest?" Yusuke scooted the map over to his end of the table to glare at the lines and names.

The two detectives clustered around him to also examine the area too.

"Probably it'd be easier to start this if we knew what each other is capable of." Twilight rested her hands on the table. "I mean, with Ivory the element of surprise was great, but it could've been much smoother if we'd all known it was coming."

"Then why don't we start with you?" said Kuwabara, he knew he was a little suspicious. After all even if everyone else was all buddy buddy with her, he knew he didn't quite trust her.

Yet.

"Sure," she straightened the pike, leaning against the table, before it could fall over. "But first, let me point out because I'm not here with permission from my authority, I can't pull out all my power. As is though, I have my trusty pike here, which has a lot of power against demons. Without that, I have guns and knives. I can hit things fairly hard and run at a decent clip. I can do shields too, though not very well."

"Useful. I wish I'd gotten a sharp pointy weapon," said Yusuke. "I have my Spirit Gun, my evil demon power, which means power, speed, and strength. Kuwabara, your next."

"My Spirit Sword. A sword made of energy," he added, for the benefit of those that hadn't seen it already. "and I'm good on the fly for things. I can pull some pretty cool stuff out of nowhere when I get serious."

"Yeah, don't ever try to drown his friends," Mitari muttered.

"Quiet or I'll Dimensional Sword you again, water boy."

"I make stuff glow!" said Sai, proudly. "Green usually, but it's interesting."

"Though not very useful," said Kotori under her breath sarcastically.

"Hey, remember that one time I lit a beacon for you? Don't complain. Anyway," he glared at Kotori. "I also have got a floating box to fly on, beats me how it can be useful, but there it is."

Flicking her fingers, Kotori held a ball of pure energy. "They burn," she explained. "and I can make more, or change the size. Lord Koenma also let me bring the frame for a portable portal. It will make a good method of escape, when we retreat I can set it up."

Botan spread her hands. "There really isn't too much I can do, I can heal some, fly, and I have a fairly good arm, or at least that's what I hear."

Next to her Hagiri shrugged. "You've seen my powers. I make things move and I never miss."

"Water creatures are what I do!" said Mitari proudly. "I just need a few drops of water and blood and I can make almost anything."

"And I puppet people. Which means I make them move, though it's easier to if they want to anyway," explained Amanuma.

"I shoot dumb women who get in the way." Ricky said.

"If you want anything or anyone found, that I can do," Mengii sighed. "but we found out where Kurama was before I had to do anything, so I guess I'm along for the gun I carry and the shields I make. And the occasional vision."

"Any useful ones lately?" asked Yusuke.

"_Any_ visions lately would be a better question."

"Oh."

"I burn things." Hiei said simply. The way his eyes glinted said that he'd flame anyone who wasted time by making him explain.

Toya was the last to go. "I have mastery over ice, as does Yukina to a lesser existent. She also heals, I feel she would be an asset."

"No." Hiei said at once.

"Your over protectiveness aside," Yusuke said. "if she wants to, which she probably does, we're taking her with us."

"Teams!" Everyone turned to look at Ricky who was the one who'd spoken. "With teams we'd be able to focus on different objectives. Getting Kurama back, luring the enemies away, and keeping our own guys from getting killed." She ticked them off on her fingers. "Retrieval, defense, and distraction."

Yusuke nodded. "Makes sense. Who do you think should go on which team?"

**--------------------------------------------**

**Somewhere…**

**--------------------------------------------**

At last, a workable plan.

It had taken longer than Kurama wanted to admit to come up with it, but he'd had to calm down and think first before he could remember ways to bypass the ward. The method itself was fairly simple; it had once gotten him out of many a tight spot when he was still a thief.

That time that he'd spent trying to remember the method had been spent leaning against the wall near the open doorway, listening to his captors speak.

From where he was he could see a dark skinned man standing, with Suzaku leaning against the wall.

"Don't understand why you don't just kill him?" Suzaku was saying. "It would make this much easier. We could clear out of here and those other fools would never know where we went."

"Far too neat and clean," explained Karasu. "a simple death is quite dull. The torment one feels when his closest friends are killed is rather interesting, wouldn't you agree?"

"You want them to come after him." The dark man said, his voice was deep, resonating. "The more the kitsune suffers, the more pleased you are."

"Of course, Ebony,"

"And since you yourself are dead, you have little to loose, even if you are returned to death, as long as you have incited your revenge you have little care," continued the dark man. "Though I might point out that I do have something to lose. My Ivory has yet to return."

"Very perceptive, Ebony, I commend you. But while you pine over your partner, I remind you that I pay you and thus you still are under my command." Kurama could imagine the smile that Karasu would be smiling all too clearly.

"I don't really care who's paying who, no one's paying me." The voice was Goki's and he sounded very annoyed. "I haven't had a new soul to eat in _hours_."

"Be quiet, Goki," snapped Karasu. "When the retaliation comes, you are free to take any soul you wish."

There was a dark chuckle from the horned demon.

"The troll demons grow restless, you know." Ebony said.

"They will wait until the time comes, or I will kill them."

"Of…course." There was a pause in Ebony's voice; a pause that hinted he thought his employer lacked some sanity.

_And maybe he does._ Kurama thought even now as he worked on the ward. _Maybe he always has._

He held his hand flat, so the palm was facing the ward and coated in with power. In a sharp movement he slammed it against the ward as hard as he could, striking sparks from the ward and thinning it just a little. He'd been doing this over and over for the better part of an hour and was just now starting to make way.

The ward was thinning there, hopefully soon he would be able to punch out into the clear beyond. Of course his hand was red and bleeding, but that seemed a small sacrifice to make.

_I might be able to get out this all on my lonesome. Who would have thought?_

By now the threads of the ward were thin indeed, almost threadbare, just a shove and he would be able to shoulder through it. Backing up he took a deep breath, then ran for the weakened spot he'd created.

Striking it with his shoulder, Kurama felt it tear and kept going to shatter the window beyond it and fall out into…

…into a troll demon's waiting arms.

It laughed, a bubbly and disgusting sound, one of its huge meaty hands catching him. It spoke with trouble around huge teeth, the words were just understandable as: "Nice try, fox."

**--------------------------------------------**

And there he was, arms held in a tight grip by two troll demons that flanked him, glaring at Karasu as defiantly as was possible in such a position.

Karasu looked more amused than anything else as he took off his mask. "An escape attempt, very clever. I, of course, expected no less. However…" he held up a hand, fingers crooked, claw like. Green lights glowed around them, lights that he flicked easily into the air where they grew.

Kurama's mouth formed a surprised 'o' of pain. He screamed and crumpled in the troll demon's grips. They dropped him; he didn't quite feel hitting the ground because the world had again dwindled to the blood, the pain, and the cold of the floor.

Feet came into his view, and a distant voice dismissed the troll demons.

"Perhaps a few too many bombs," mused Karasu. "ah well. Ebony, I require your skills."

Another set of feet came into view, Kurama observed muzily, those of the dark skinned man.

A black hand reached down, somehow becoming more and more insubstantial the closer it came. It became dark smoke that came nearer by the moment.

_What is..._ was all Kurama had time to think.

With interest, Karasu watched the kitsune's eyes go wide as Ebony disappeared completely into smoke, then slowly eyelids fell over emerald eyes done dull.

The kitsune went completely limp all at once.

"That Ebony does good work," commented Suzaku.

"Very skilled indeed." he agreed. "Take him back to the other room, repair the ward too. We won't have any more trouble from him, but I want nothing left completely to chance."

**--------------------------------------------**

**Genkai's Temple**

**--------------------------------------------**

The plan had been laid, teams had been formed out, equipment distributed. Mengii had humbly presented to the table what she had brought, tiny ear comms.

"So we all know what the others are doing," she explained. "though I only had six, we'll have to share."

In the end Kuwabara and Twilight had ones for their team, with also contained Kotori, Sai, and Toya.

Yusuke and Mengii had one each, they where with Hiei, Yukina, and Botan.

The last team of Mitari, Amanuma, Hagiri, and Ricky agreed that Ricky and Hagiri would get the comms. They'd be away from things a little anyway so hopefully it would only serve to keep them in contact with the others.

After those who had a comm. checked that they were working, they began to gear up.

Yukina packed a pack of medical herbs, Hiei retrieved his Blazeoil from where he'd left it, and Hagiri sat on the porch assembling a gun that looked far too powerful to be anywhere in the realms of legal.

"Nervous?" Kuwabara asked Mitari and Amanuma, he was sitting on the temple porch as they fidgeted were they stood.

"Not at all, we're just going to attack a powerful and well prepared demon that's holding a friend in his clutches. Just a walk in the park compared to my normal day." Amanuma said.

"He is." Mitari translated. "So am I for that matter. What if—"

"Don't say that," Kuwabara paused in fastening a knife into a sheath up his sleeve. "trust me, 'what ifs' are useless, as shit. All they do is put butterflies in your stomach."

"Are you nervous?" asked Amanuma.

"'Course, kid. And I've been doing things like this, some worse than this a few times, for a long time. It never goes away. In fact," he grinned. "they say that being a little anxious is good, it means you'll do better in the end."

"Do you think we'll get him back?" asked Mitari, he nervously shifted his bag of water bottles from hand to hand.

"I think so, but I'm not sure, I mean, you never can be."

"If you think we might fail, and might die," Amanuma made a face but went on. "why'd you volunteer to come? Why did _everyone_ volunteer? Wouldn't it just be better to sit it out and stay safe?"

Kuwabara sighed and ran a hand though his hair, he didn't bother to jell it these days, smoothing it out of his eyes. "Now I couldn't do that. It would drive me nuts to just sit around and wait for whoever survived to mosey back in. Even if the odds don't look so good, at least I'll be there. You know, _doing_ something."

And then there was no time, because Yusuke was yelling for them to gather by the steps.

With a groan Kuwabara stood. "Good luck kids." he left, tucking his hands into his pockets as he whistled a tune under his breath.

"Well?" Amanuma asked Mitari.

"Well, what, aren't we going?"

Suddenly Amanuma offered his hand to his friend. "In case something happens, it was nice knowing you."

Mitari slapped the proffered hand away. "Don't be an idiot. It'll be fine, come on." He headed off for where the others where.

For a second Amanuma hesitated, his hand still outstretched. Then he fisted it and brought it stiffly to his side. "Here we go," he muttered, before he ran to catch up with the others who where already leaving.

**--------------------------------------------**

"**It's always better to be **_**doing**_**." **

**(The Disreputable Dog Abhorsen)**

**--------------------------------------------**

**TBC**


	9. The Interlude

**Seeker **

Dane Soar

This chapter is a little…unusual. And very short, my deepest apologies about the last one. There's sort of a different feel here, I was going for a fragmented sort of ethereal idea at first. The next chapter gets on with the story, but this is something of a sideways step, I'm really not too sure how well this will go over.

Three cheers for an awesome editor and for you guys! Reviewers make my week.

Chapter 9 **The Interlude- The Kitsune, the Redhead, and the Dark Man**

**--------------------------------------------**

_The stone columns rose, fluted, to the ceiling frescoed with the scene of a night sky. Silhouetted in the light of a wall-hung torch two figures sat._

**--------------------------------------------**

_The two faced one another across the chessboard, worn from long games and longer hours spent carefully moving the figures across the black and white marble squares laid into the floor._

_The silver haired kitsune at the one side of the board moved the black knight leisurely a place over with only the tips of his long clever fingers. He lounged back against an opulent red velvet cushion, a smug smile playing across his lips in satisfaction of a move well done. On his side, many a sparkling and flashing item was arranged with loving care. _

_His opponent, a familiar one, sat cross-legged across from him, the very ends of his pale digits steepled as he considered the board. Red bangs cast shadows over the human's eyes as he bowed his head briefly in thought. Then he reached out and moved his white bishop across the chessboard. The redhead's side of the room was bare of all but the stone columns._

_The gold eyes of the kitsune narrowed as he considered the move. "A very good play," Youko admitted reluctantly._

_"Why, thank you," Shuichi said graciously, then the touch of a smug smile came across his face. "Check."_

_Tapping his lips with a finger the kitsune thought for a moment. There were two pieces in peril, his queen and his king, both could not be saved, one had to be sacrificed._

**--------------------------------------------**

_After long deliberation, the kitsune accepted the inevitable; he nudged his king out of harm's way._

_The redhead laughed, a short chime of mirth as he claimed the queen. He placed the black ebony piece to the side. "No doubt I shall pay for that move later."_

_"Indisputably. I am plotting revenge as we speak." The kitsune leaned farther back in his cushion, crossing his arms. "It shall be wonderful and as deadly as it is elegant. And best of all, you shall never see it coming until it is too late."_

_"Then I will have to pay attention." The human folded his hands in his lap. "Or at least more attention. Perhaps though it would be better focused…ah, elsewhere? We are in a significant amount of danger at the moment."_

_Youko waved a dismissive hand. "If our attention mattered, we would be slain already. This is far too deep within our minds to matter one way or another what we do."_

_"You assume too much. Why do you think that even though in every other respect we are one being, on this deepest of deep levels there are two of us?" He raised an eyebrow. "The kitsune, an ancient demon, and I, the leftovers of a fusion with a human embryo. We are one person, yet here…" a hand gestured around at the stone columns. "Here we are two. Does that not have some significance?"_

_"Of course it does not, we function as one being, there is no Youko _and_ Shuichi, only Kurama. Your argument…wait… you are trying to distract me."_

_Shuichi chuckled. "I must say, it works every time. Though it is a valid concern. If Karasu slays us, we shall never find out who was to win this game. Imagine the tragedy."_

_"We might see it yet." The kitsune looked up, into the frescoed ceiling. "We are gravely wounded."_

_"He cannot possibly want to slay us yet, Karasu would surely want more suffering from us before the end." The redhead also turned his gaze upward. "Ah, the dark skinned man. What do you think of this Ebony creature?"_

_"I think nothing of him," replied the kitsune. "there is something about him which I cannot read."_

_"Then he is indeed dangerous." Emerald eyes went wide. "Did you see that, Youko?"_

_"Smoke…" mused the kitsune, rising from his cushion, the chess game forgotten for the time being. "He turned to smoke. How unusual, I have never seen a demon with a skill such as this."_

_"What do you think it means?" the redhead asked._

_"I would guess it means that we are in a great deal of trouble."_

**--------------------------------------------**

_Both were gazing up at the ceiling and so did not see the dark hand reach up from the middle of the forgotten chessboard. It began to grope around, but a finger bumped one of ivory pieces, knocking the rook over._

_It clinked against the marble floor, drawing the attention of the kitsune. _

_Another hand joined the first one, and both laid their fingers on the ground and pushed. A head slowly rose out of the stone sending more pieces over._

_"Shuichi," said the kitsune, in a flat calm voice._

_The redhead looked down for the first time, noting the scattered pieces with some regret. "Shame that, I was winning."_

"Run."

_At the kitsune's sharp bark the redhead turned, as if to flee, but the shadowy hand lashed out quickly, grabbing the human's ankle. He gave a startled yelp and was brought harshly to earth._

_The dark man pushed himself up again, now more than halfway out of the floor. He propped his knee against the floor and yanked his other leg free. Standing straight, Ebony faced the kitsune._

"Hello." _He said._

**--------------------------------------------**

_With a backhand lash of strong arm, the dark man sent the kitsune flying into one of the stone columns. The stone cracked as the kitsune's back hit it and the column tottered. _

_The redhead cried out a warning to the kitsune, but the demon was too winded to move in time to avoid the falling pillar. It landed squarely across the fallen kitsune, pinning him._

_"Shuichi, _run away!" _the kitsune cried to the human, ignoring the crushing pain of the stone and the advancing dark man. "Do not let it catch you!"_

_The dark man kicked the kitsune on the side of the head and the demon went limp._

**--------------------------------------------**

_The shadow man nodded in satisfaction, the kitsune was no more danger. Abruptly his head was jerked back, the redhead had snaked his arm around the dark man's throat and was yanking backward. Choking for air, the dark assassin threw his shoulders forward, tossing the lighter human over him and hard onto the floor._

_Stomping down hard the dark man drove the heel of his foot into the redhead's stomach._

_The redhead gasped in pain as the air was driven forcibly from his lungs._

_Reaching down the dark man picked up one of the scattered chess pieces; examining it with some interested he noted,_ "A white bishop, and a fine one at that, carved of fine ivory." _His fingers stroked the piece, lingering over the smooth curves._ "Ivory…" _the dark assassin clenched his hand around the bishop in a violent pained movement. _

_"…who is Ivory?" the redhead asked as his fingers were slowly reaching out to an ornamental dagger that had been under the kitsune's cushion until it had been thrown free._

_Anger flashed through the dark man's shadowed eyes. In one fierce movement he slammed the piece down, through the hand the redhead had just gotten on the knife. The human screamed as the ivory pierced his skin._

"The name of a dead woman," _Ebony stated, as the human cradled the impaled hand to his chest._ "A dead woman who I loved very dearly."

_"I did not kill her." The redhead glared up at the assassin, pushing himself half up on the uninjured hand._

_The dark demon smiled down at him, showing that his teeth were also black._ "But she died _because_ of you. Now… sleep."

_The redhead slumped to the floor._

**--------------------------------------------**

_A hand points and the columns twist to become arches, the torches become candles, the frescoed ceiling is blank and the wall bare._

_Ebony takes another piece from the floor. A white pawn._

_He stands for a long time, just holding the ivory piece._

_Neither of the two stir._

_All is still and quiet._

**--------------------------------------------**

Karasu considered the prone kitsune. "I almost preferred you awake and defiant." He mused. "But you wouldn't be the type to stand by and wait to be rescued." The demon knelt, stroking the red hair, threading his fingers through the flaming strands. "I wonder how much of his anger Ebony has taken out on you? Impossible to know, but this was made necessary by your irrational stubbornness.

"But, in the final round, no matter what I threw at you then, you simply kept getting up again and again. How foolish. Then again, if you were not so foolish and stubborn and endearing, I likely would have chosen another to battle. You could consider yourself lucky, you would have not faired as well against Bui."

"Karasu," Suzaku was leaning into the room. "Goki has spotted some of them, they are mounting an rescue attempt."

"Well," he stood. "we'll just have to stop them, won't we?"

The other demon nodded.

"Very well, take your place." Without a backward glance, Karasu left the wounded kitsune, his cloak billowing darkly around him.

**--------------------------------------------**

"**Serpine hunkered down in front of him. "Well, Skulduggery? Where is that tired old defiance—the taunting, the goading? Where are the endless heroic clichés? Aren't you going to look me in the eye and tell me to **_**do my worst**_**?"**

**"Actually, I was going to ask that you go easy on me, I'm feeling kind of tender today."**

**Serpine stood, opened his left hand in front of the detective. "This is your only chance. Tell me where the key is."**

**"Okay."**

**Serpine raised an eyebrow. "Really?"**

**"No, only joking. Do your worst."**

**Serpine laughed and his fingers started moving and the detective started screaming."**

**(Skulduggery Pleasant. Page 226)**

**--------------------------------------------**

**TBC**


	10. That Didn’t Go Well

Seeker 

Dane Soar

Thanks for the support of the interlude, I felt bad giving you guys it when I took so long to update. Originally that entire part about Ebony was supposed to be only a page or so long but when I started typing it was clear it was just going to keep going, not that that's ever bad!

Now we're back to that good old rescue attempt. Well, it's not going to be easy for our heroes, it never is.

And thanks to my editor, who hopefully won't kill me for making her edit two chapters at once. And to you guys too!

Chapter 10** That Didn't Go Well**

**--------------------------------------------**

**America **

**New York**

**Warehouse**

**Team Distraction- Kotori, Sai, Kuwabara, Toya, Twilight**

**--------------------------------------------**

The Blazeoil made a wet spattering as Kuwabara and Kotori splattered it liberally onto the warehouse door and the wall around. They bolted for cover as Kuwabara said, putting a finger to his ear comm. "Hiei, now."

Where was a _wumph_! And there was no door.

Or most of that wall.

Like wasps from a nest that had been kicked the troll demons spewed from the opening. Their skin was gray green, horns sported from their foreheads, and they had thick powerful limbs. Strong, but about as smart as a brick.

"Here we go!" shouted Kuwabara, summoning his Spirit Sword. "Remember to make lots of noise, guys!" He launched into the fray with a grin on his face.

Kotori spread her fingers, summoning balls of light between the digits, the backpack on her back holding the portable portal bouncing. She dove into the fray, flinging burning, stinging, and eventually exploding balls at any troll demon that unwise enough to get close to her. There weren't many.

Troll demons were dumb, but they weren't _that_ dumb.

But Kotori wasn't the only one creating a clear space around her, a deadly silver wheel of light was all that was visible of Twilight's pike as she swung it in expert circles. Occasionally a limb was hacked off a careless troll demon that roared in agony and clutched the severed stump.

Every troll demon that got near Toya though, definitely regretted it. Air froze in the lungs, working its way outward. Blocks of ice containing the demons fell over, shattering. The deadly hiss of ice and frozen space snapped from the air.

Even Sai helped out, not in the fighting department, he sat on his cardboard box out of reach, whooping and waving his hands in the air.

"Mengii," said Kuwabara, speaking to the other team around back though his comm. "you can start."

"She's starting hacking the ward." Yusuke said a few minutes later. "Defense team, keep it up."

Making enough noise to keep everyone's attention out front was the goal of Kuwabara's team while the Retrieval team snuck around back.

"Anyone have eyes on Karasu?" Ricky asked from her post, through the comm.

All answers from all three teams where negative, no one had seen him.

A troll demon managed to lay hands on Kotori, making her fall, wincing as her shoulder jarred against the ground. There was a soft whistling sound and the demon's grip went slack.

There was a bullet hole in the middle of its forehead, right between the eyes. "Say thank you to Hagiri for me." She called to Twilight, the nearest one with a comm.

**--------------------------------------------**

**Warehouse**

**Team Defense- Mitari, Amanuma, Ricky, Hagiri **

**Roof**

**--------------------------------------------**

On the sloping roof of the next warehouse over a makeshift vantage point had been set up. At the very peak of the roof, Hagiri had set up a tripod to make a level surface to balance his equipment. He looked down the scope of his sniper rifle. "Kotori says thank you, Hagiri." Twilight's voice came to him.

He made a final adjustment on an aim, and pulled the trigger. The rife jerked backwards, but he was ready for the kickback. "You're welcome then." The bullet he had just fired had taken out the troll demon ready to pounce on Twilight from behind.

"Crap, didn't see him." said Twilight.

"Then pay attention."

"Hey look, you little—"

"Guys," Yusuke interrupted. "try to keep the line clear. You know, in case Karasu _actually_ shows up."

Toward the edge of the roof Mitari and Amanuma had been stationed. "Ready?" Mitari asked.

"What kind of question is that? of course I am!"

"Then let's start." Neither had a comm., but they had been told to chip in whenever they could.

Since they were place a little farther back, Mitari uncapped his first water bottle, he cut his thumb and started to call up one of his creatures. Once he got going, Amanuma would puppet him, mostly to save energy, when Amanuma was in control it was his energy they would burn. By bouncing back and forth between each other Mitari would be able to keep more creatures going at once to pick off the troll demons below.

A little farther back, the trapdoor to the roof was open, Ricky was down below, at the bottom of the stairs, keeping an eye out. She was in charge of keeping someone from nabbing those on the roof from behind and took this duty very seriously.

Her gun out and ready, she kept her eyes on the dark warehouse, in case someone figured out where the overhead shots outside where coming from and came for blood.

In spite of the tense situation and what she could hear from the comm., she couldn't help remembering that strange feeling that had shot through her when Ivory had let them out of her Limbo. She'd felt like something new and powerful was rushing through her veins, galvanizing her to stand and shoot. What had that been? Ricky had never felt something like that before.

She shook her head. No time to sit around daydreaming. Job to do, must concentrate.

**--------------------------------------------**

**Warehouse**

**Team Retrieval- Yusuke, Hiei, Botan, Yukina, Mengii**

**Around Back**

**--------------------------------------------**

Tapping Yusuke on the shoulder, Hiei pointed out the broken window. They were crouching with the rest of the team behind the warehouse Kurama was in, waiting for a go signal. "There's a patch on the ward there." Hiei muttered.

"Escape attempt?" asked Yusuke.

"No less from Kurama."

"Think he got away?"

"If he did, there wouldn't be a patch on the ward," Mengii pointed out. "there's no point in filling in a hole if there's nothing to keep in. But there'll still be a weak point there, I might be able to use it when the time comes."

"Mengii," came Kuwabara's voice through the comm. "you can start."

"Okay," she murmured to herself, low enough the comm. didn't pick it up as she shook the tension out of her hands. "lemme get this part of the show on the road." Mengii reached up and put both hands on the weak spot in the ward. She began to glow subtly brown.

"She's starting hacking the ward." Yusuke said, "Defense team, keep it up."  
Skillfully Mengii formed her power into a long spike, sending it whistling toward the ward, forcing it trough the threads. "Ah!" she said suddenly after a few minutes. "Almost got it."

Botan and Yukina were both crouched together a little back, Yukina clutching her healer's bag nervously.

"Just a few more minutes."

"Be ready," Yusuke told the rest of them.

"We will," Botan said determinedly.

**--------------------------------------------**

**Warehouse**

**Team Distraction- Kotori, Sai, Kuwabara, Toya, Twilight**

**--------------------------------------------**

With an effort of will, Toya flung a long spear of ice through a troll demon, the ice spread over its stomach and kept going. He ignored the demon's cry of alarm, summoning another spear just in time to bring it down hard on a charging troll demon's head.

The stunned demon fell over and he finished it off. He was far from any of the others but wasn't in any danger of being overwhelmed. Not when he could freeze dozens of troll demons all at once.

Kuwabara and Twilight were back to back, any mistrust Kuwabara might have felt about the other temporarily abandoned. The Spirit Sword and pike traced deadly patterns in the air and many a demon fell.

On her own, Kotori held her ground with difficulty, she had no weapon to keep the troll demons at a distance and one had scored a hit on her side with it's claw. She clutched the wound with one hand, using the other to fling burning balls to drive back the troll demon a few steps.

The Distraction team worked hard, cutting down demon after demon like so much as chaff, but more seemed to always to be more. Amazing how many there seemed to be, the gang was an unusually large one.

Gradually the tide of the fight swept Twilight and Kuwabara apart.

A dragon of water, barreled down from the rooftop that the Defense team was on, opening its mouth and swallowing a dozen troll demons in one scoop. Once they were unconscious it spat them out again. Another creature of water joined the dragon, this one long and snakelike to wrap around heads.

Hagiri also made his presence known by the occasional troll demon that fell over dead after a deadly whistle sounded through the air.

It was when Kotori and Kuwabara and Twilight where the farthest from each other, Sai, who was sticking close to his Spirit Detective, screamed and fell backwards off his box. He'd had a bullet through the shoulder.

Kotori dove for him and tacked a troll demon that had been reaching for her assistant with a wild cry. "Don't you dare touch him!"

Over the crowd Kuwabara caught Twilight's gaze, both of them began to hack their way through to the other two.

"What the _hell_ are you doing Hagiri? Watch your shots!" demanded Kuwabara, even as he made his way to the downed Sai.

"He shot him…" Kotori turned a fierce glare at the rooftop. "He _shot_ Sai!"

Hagiri sounded confused. "That… wasn't me."

"Are you sure?" demanded Twilight.

"What's going on over there?" Yusuke wanted to know.

"Hagiri shot Sai." Kuwabara said quickly, he swung his Spirit Sword in circles to keep the troll demons back.

"I didn't! That shot couldn't even have been a loose shot of mine, it's from the completely wrong direction."

From her post, Ricky commented. "If it wasn't you, Hagiri…then who was it?"

"I don't know!" this time there was a tint of panic in the sniper's voice. "Mitari, keep the demons back from them a bit will you? …I know you're tired, just do it."  
Another shot from the unknown source, this time at Toya, who would have been hit if he weren't ducking to avoid a troll demon's blow just then. He saw the others had gathered and saw that there was one short. Guessing that someone might have been down, Toya began to work his way toward them, having no comm. to tell him what was going on.

"Who was hurt?" was the first thing he demanded a few minutes later when he entered the small open circle that Mitari's creatures of water struggled to hold.

"I hate to point this out at a time like this," said Ricky. "but if Hagiri isn't the one shooting, is there really another sniper?"

"Crap," Twilight held her pike up as she threw a shield around their group. "if that's true we'll get picked off one by one. Or the troll demons mob us when Mitari and Amanuma can't hold them back anymore and my shield drops."

"Just hold on guys, Mengii almost has the ward snapped. As soon as we grab Kurama, we'll get out there and bale you out." Yusuke said.

"Sai, Sai, open your eyes!" Kotori was on her knees, panic overtaking her training, making her incoherent.

"I'm… alive…" Sai's voice had a slurred edge to it. "…I'm…okay…" he was bleeding all over Kotori's shaking, desperate hands as she tore strips from her jacket. "Just stop…yelling…in my…ear…"

"Whoa!"

"What's wrong Hagiri?" demanded Kuwabara, he still had his Spirit Sword in hand, though the water creatures and the shield kept the enemies back, he was still wary.

"I got _shot_." He sounded more surprised than pained. "That other sniper took a damn shot at me!"

"You okay?"

"Thanks for asking Yusuke, but," one could almost hear the eye roll in his tone. "I've gotten used to getting shot, seems to happen a lot. It's only a clip in the leg. Hey, Amanuma! Mitari! Get off the roof. The other sniper's probably got you in his sights, through the trapdoor. What? Yeah, another sniper." there was a pause as Hagiri listened to either Mitari or Amanuma talk. "You're right. Kuwabara?"

"What?"

"We're in the line of fire, I'm packing up now, but Mitari's nearing the end of his rope, even with Amanuma's help he can't hold his creatures any longer. If he moves the water creatures go. We can stay up here but—"

"No," Yusuke said. "I don't want anyone else shot."

"I'm almost through the ward." Mengii, she had trouble forcing words past power. "It's strong though, there's might be a recoil when I break it."

"…_Uh-oh_." Hagiri said. "The sniper took a shot at Mitari…wait, you okay? Good. It didn't hit, he summoned a water creature to block it. Damn. Shock broke Amanuma's concentration, he's fainted. Grab him Mitari, before he falls off the …he fell off the roof."

Kuwabara groaned and rubbed a gritty eye with the heel of his hands. Stress, lack of sleep, and fighting where taking a toll. He looked at the scowling troll demons, who had temporarily retreated after the shield and water creatures went up.

But when the blood and water creations fell to simple water when Mitari was shot at, they grew bolder, coming to the very edge of the shield to glare in at them.

While he was busy glaring back out, behind his bravado, Kuwabara was getting a little worried. _Sai's shot, Hagiri's shot, Amanuma fell off the roof, Kotori's bleeding, and worst of all, where is Karasu? And Suzaku? And Goki? And what about that Ebony guy? This isn't looking good._

"We're off," reported Hagiri.

"What took you so long?" demanded Ricky, who had been down below.

"I just had a thought," Twilight looked a bit worn, she leant on her pike as a crutch, shields weren't easy to keep up for a long time. "Hagiri, you knew of the other assassins, the Ebony and Ivory, can you think of a sniper that Karasu could have hired?"

There was a full minute of silence. "No, I can't think of someone else offhand who would work for someone so obviously crazy as Kara… wait, yes I can. It's Menou."

"Who?" Kuwabara raised an eyebrow at Twilight, who had a surprised expression on her face.

"A butterfly demon who's quite the shot," she explained. "Pretty well know in this area."

"I'll deal with this," said Hagiri. "here Mitari, take this."

Some static followed.

"What was that?" Yusuke wanted to know. "…Hagiri? Come on, talk."

"Umm…"

"What is it Hagiri?"

"…this is Mitari,"

"What happened to Hagiri?"

"He yanked his comm. out, threw it at Mitari, and ran." Ricky explained. "I don't know where he's gone. The leg wound must not be that bad though, if he can take off that fast."

**--------------------------------------------**

**Warehouse**

**Team Defense- Mitari, Amanuma, Ricky, Hagiri **

**Off the Roof**

**--------------------------------------------**

Mitari felt the world starting to tilt. He sat with a thump and put his head down. The vision of Amanuma toppling off the roof was still burned into his brain, he had no extra brain space to answer Ricky's concerned questions about how he was, or even to wonder where Hagiri had gone off to.

"You okay, kid?" Ricky put hand on his should. "Come on, talk. This is no time to go into shock!" She shook him gently and it seemed to bring him back some.

"…what?" He asked, eyes focusing on her for the first time.

"Shock. Bad." she said, very deliberately.

"Okay…"

"Now," Ricky lowered her voice. "We're going outside, getting Amanuma, and then your going to stay in here while I help the others."

As Mitari began to protest, Yusuke said though the comm., "Good plan, and Mitari, I want you to protect Amanuma, he's probably hurt from that fall. Kuwabara, you guys holding out okay?"

"Not so good." He sounded tired. "Sai's down, Kotori's bleeding all over the place, and Twilight can't hold her shield for too much longer. The only of us that are 'okay' are me and Toya."

"Soon as we can, we're going to get to you guys." Yusuke reassured him. "…just as soon as we get Kurama."

"Come on," Ricky pulled Mitari to his feet. "let's see how bad off Amanuma is."

**--------------------------------------------**

**Warehouse**

**Team Retrieval- Yusuke, Hiei, Botan, Yukina, Mengii**

**Around Back**

**--------------------------------------------**

"Yusuke," Mengii said, in the offhand, distracted way of someone immersed in power.

"What is it?"

"This is a _really_ well made ward."

"I guessed that when you didn't break it in about two seconds."

"In a moment I'll be through it, but I need to warn you, if there's a recoil, it will probably knock me out."

He nodded. "Okay, I've been warned."

"Good." Mengii made the last twist of power she needed to, and felt the satisfaction of a job well done as the ward shattered.

Everything flashed white, even for those who stood a few paces away and steam rose from Mengii's scorched fingertips.

She swayed but Botan lunged up, grabbing her and easing the psychic to the ground before she fell.

"She's unconscious," Botan said. "do you want me to stay with her?"

Yusuke shook his head. "Bring her with us, we don't want to go back for her. We can't slow down now or those guys distracting are going to get creamed. Let's move in." he pumped the power up in his fists, slamming them against the wall.

The wall went too.

Through the gaping hole they tumbled, Yusuke in the lead with Hiei not far behind.

The first thing they saw was the bleeding form, curled on the ground…

…and the person who was standing over it.

**--------------------------------------------**

**Team Distraction- Kotori, Sai, Kuwabara, Toya, Twilight**

**--------------------------------------------**

"Shit." Kuwabara heard Yusuke say.

He shot a confused expression at Twilight, who shrugged, her lips pressed thin and white as she struggled to keep the shield.

"What happened Yusuke, what's wrong?" Ricky asked.

"I found Suzaku." came back through the comm. "And he looks _really_ pissed."

**--------------------------------------------**

"**Yes," Skulduggery said. "This is a fabulous rescue indeed."**

**(Skulduggery Pleasant. Page 251)**

**--------------------------------------------**

**TBC**


	11. Tactics Fall Apart

**Seeker**

Dane Soar

The craziness continues and believe me, it just keeps getting bigger and bigger!

Thank you reviewers and a special thanks to my awesome Editor.

Chapter 11 **Tactics Fall Apart**

**--------------------------------------------**

**Warehouse**

Team Distraction- Kotori, Sai, Kuwabara, Toya, Twilight

**--------------------------------------------**

Kuwabara gritted his teeth as the shield around them flickered again. He really didn't like this Twilight woman, he thought they shouldn't be so trusting, but he didn't have much of a choice right now, did he? Other people were in danger. Glancing down, he saw that Kotori had managed to stem the flow of blood from her assistant's shoulder and was holding the remains of her coat to her own side.

"Are we going to be alright?" she asked Kuwabara. The look in her eyes wasn't that of a trained Spirit Detective, but of a kid who was very frightened.

"We'll be fine," Kuwabara lied, patting her briefly on the head. "We're gonna get out of this." _I think,_ he added to himself. Which was why he was going to have a leap of faith. "Hey!" he called to Twilight.

She cocked her head some, not sparing too much attention from the shield.

"Borrow power from me," Kuwabara put a hand on her elbow.

For a moment she gave him a strange look, lending power wasn't a thing done lightly. 

"We're in a little bit of a pinch," he said pointedly.

Seeming to take the point, Twilight nodded, accepting his power to stabilize her shield.

"Yusuke, Mengii," Kuwabara asked through the comm. "we kind of need to get bailed out, you guys might want to hurry."

Toya was watching the troll demons who were hovering around the edge of the shield, watching them for any chance. He flexed fingers, then flung a dagger made of pure ice, impaling one that was getting too curious.

And he was ready for more, he'd be able to hold back at least the first wave of them that would come after the shield fell, and probably the second too. Eventually Toya knew, they were going to be overrun. There were too many enemies and they were too tired. If Yusuke's team didn't get to them soon, they would have no chance once the troll demons made up their mind to charge.

He clenched his fists, to die and to not have gotten the damn soul-stealing demon rankled his pride. But Toya wasn't about to up and die if he was leaving Jin in his soulless state. He would fight, to the end if it came to that. 

They all would.

**--------------------------------------------**

**Alone- Hagiri**

**--------------------------------------------**

In a very undignified hobble, Hagiri ran for the fire escape for an adjacent warehouse, the wound on his leg throbbing at every step. Even if it was a nick, that didn't stop it hurting like hell.

He swore under his breath when he reached the fire escape and saw the end part of the ladder was still in the upward position. There was a good five feet between him and the bottom rung. If someone had used it to get up they had obviously moved it back up, and he didn't have time to break into the warehouse for the inner stairwell.

Damn, he didn't have time for any of this!

Reaching into his pocket he drew out a long piece of string and, drawing an empty can from the detritus that littered this space between the warehouses fastened the string around it. But it was no good, the can was too light for him to toss it.

Lucky he carried rocks in his pockets too, just incase he needed something to throw in a hurry. With a few of those in it the can was easily heavy enough to throw up and around the last rung of the ladder. It swung around several times, securing the hold.

This was going to make some amount of noise, which the other sniper would no doubt hear at once, so he was going to have to be quick.

With one yank on the string he brought the ladder down with a screech of rusted metal. As soon as it was within grabbing distance Hagiri did just that, using his weight to bring it down completely.

The narrow ladder jerked as it hit the groove that spelled the end of it's descent and Hagiri scrambled up it as fast as he could manage with his leg.

Hand over hand, he worked his way up the ladder so fast that just at the top he lost his footing, falling back against the metal linking around that part of the ladder. At once clutching for the rungs again, he wasn't able to stop his foot knocking loudly against the metal linking accidentally.

If that didn't tip the sniper off, he didn't know what would.

Once he was sure of his grip again, Hagiri poked his head over the edge of the roof. He at once found himself looking down the barrel of a handgun.

The woman who held it had eyes the color of faded dollar bills and the expression of someone about to do something that they thought was an awful shame.

"You know, I really don't feel it's right, picking off the youth of our profession like this," she said, her voice melodic, "especially such a promising one, but, oh well."

"Look down," was all that Hagiri had to say.

The sniper did. And laughed. There was a blade at her throat.

"Not bad, not bad at all."

Hagiri didn't take his eyes off Menou, she was fast and he wasn't about to get pushed off another building. Or shot again.

"Truce for a moment?" he asked.

"I don't want to have to kill a brother in arms, it is always such a downer. Very well, truce, but only for a minute, I am under employ after all."

Slowly, step-by-step she eased back and he forward, up onto the roof. His knife stayed at her throat and her gun still pointed right between his eyes. When both his feet were on solid Hagiri relaxed just the slightest bit, however, Menou must have felt the slackening tension in the knife to her throat. 

A glitter in her eyes was the only warning he had before the slight woman roundhouse kicked him with enough force to send his knife away and him flying. 

**--------------------------------------------**

Team Retrieval- Yusuke, Hiei, Botan, Yukina, Mengii

**--------------------------------------------**

The former Saint Beast had indeed fallen. He was pale and strained, his arm hanging limp from the shoulder that Hagiri had shot earlier, and sparks played around his antenna in a golden halo. "Hello, Yusuke," Suzaku said through clenched teeth. "So good to see you again."

And Yusuke noted that this Suzaku was different from the one he'd faced in Maze Castle all that time ago. This one had lost almost all of its refinement, the pure rage pouring off of him was strong enough to almost be energy itself.

"Umm…hey," Yusuke replied, somewhat hesitantly, he was out of practice with the battle repartee. "Fancy… seeing you here." He wanted to keep his eyes on Suzaku, but he couldn't help darting the occasional glance at the bloody Kurama who was slumped behind him.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hiei come level with him, the girls sheltered behind. He knew what Hiei had in mind and so began to circle away from where he was, drawing Suzaku's attention by talking. 

"I have to say, you look like hell. Working for Karasu not turning out so well?"

Suzaku flung a bolt of lightening at Yusuke, who threw himself down so it went over his head. "I'm working _with_ him, not for him." 

"Oh, so that's what your calling it," Yusuke climbed to his feet. "Hey, whatever lets you sleep at night, man."

Sparks jumped from finger to finger as Suzaku held up a hand. "I'll sleep much better once I've killed you!" In one quick movement he tossed the bolt he'd built up.

The girls lingered by the hole in the wall out of the way of any stray electricity, Botan and Yukina working together to hold up Mengii. They weren't about to get in the way of this battle.

And very carefully, Hiei, who was unnoticed by everyone but Yusuke, was circling toward the kitsune.

**--------------------------------------------**

**Alone- Hagiri**

**--------------------------------------------**

He hit the platform she had set up for her gear, dislodging her own sniping rifle, which clattered away. Rolling, Hagiri slipped fingers into pockets and came up hurling knives.

Menou danced away from the blades, but they had been a smokescreen. With the other hand Hagiri had dropped three other blades, which had been charged with power. As Menou reached into the folds of her clothing for something sharp to throw in return, she felt a pain in her leg.

Down she looked and saw that there was a knife in her leg, just below her knee one of the three that he'd dropped. The other two floated threateningly, right in front of her.

She smiled, an odd thing to do when being held a knifepoint, and began to glow green. 

"Whatever you're doing, stop it." He glared at her. And then, strangely, sneezed.

Her lips curling up more, Menou pointed a finger. "Look up."

Of course he didn't, first of all because it would be a bad idea to take his eyes off her, even for an instant and second because if that wasn't the oldest trick in the book, he didn't know what was. Then he sneezed again.

Giving up he took what was supposed to be a brief glance skyward. He ended up staring.

About two feet up the sky was dotted with butterflies so thick they actually were starting to cast a shadow. Something seemed to be falling from the flock, he sneezed harder.

"It's dust," said Menou. "A tad cliché but, what isn't these days?" Hagiri opened his mouth to say something but sneezed several times instead. "My butterflies exude dust from their wings. Quite poisonous, if inhaled in enough quantity." She looked thoughtful. "Though I never did figure out how much was enough to kill. Now, you have these delightful knives here and I have the butterflies. A stalemate, unless I'm much mistaken."

One of the insects alighted on Hagiri's shoulder where it batted it's wings lethargically, spreading dust. He tried to hold his breath.

"I'm quite open to negotiation you know," Menou continued cheerfully. "this Karasu fellow isn't my favorite employer by a long stretch and I'm just not in the _mood_ to do this mass murder sort of thing today. So I might be open to leaving if offered the right…" she inspected her fingernails. "hmmm….payment."

"A million," Hagiri offered at once, his eyes watering.

"Two million,"

"A million and a half. And I'll owe you a favor."

Menou tilted her head to the side, considering it for a moment. "Owe me two favors and keep your money."

"Deal."

"Good, as I said, this just isn't a day for mass murder." She gave a strange twitch of the shoulder blades and butterfly wings unfolded from her shoulders, green and blue markings gleaming. With a single powerful beat her feet lifted from the roof. "I'll come back for my gear. Remember, _two_ favors. Bye-bye." With a last smile, Menou beat her wings again and was away, the butterflies taking to the sky after her.

Hagiri sneezed six times in a row, wiped streaming eyes, and got off the roof.

**--------------------------------------------**

Team Retrieval- Yusuke, Hiei, Botan, Yukina, Mengii

**--------------------------------------------**

Yusuke rolled and the bolt of lightning missed him by inches. It was the fifth time he'd had to do it. _I don't get it, _he thought. _why is he just throwing lightning at me? I've been taunting him enough he should really be trying to kill me harder._

"So," Yusuke got to his feet, brushing himself off. "Suzaku, you've really come down in the world. Why aren't I seeing seven of you? Because so far, you've just tossed a few sparks around." Over Suzaku's bristling shoulder, he could see Hiei, very carefully moving forward. "This is nothing as hard as when I fought you back at Maze Castle. I mean, you almost killed me then."

"And I will have no trouble doing it again!" retorted Suzaku, sparks began to jump from the air around him. He hurled a extra large handful of lightning at him, but was left out of breath by the effort.

As Botan and Yukina duck behind sheltering crates so as to be out of the way, Yusuke was kept busy dancing a frantic jig to avoid being fried like a bug.

Meanwhile, Hiei was within touching distance of Kurama, Suzaku had moved away from him chasing the former Detective. He reached out for the kitsune's shoulder to roll his over and see the existent of the wounds to his chest but a pale hand grabbed his wrist. The movement took him by surprise, he'd thought Kurama was unconscious.

"Fox, we're here to get you," Hiei said in a low voice, attempting to free his arm.

For some reason, Kurama wasn't letting go, and when he raised his head… he had the strangest look in his eyes.

**--------------------------------------------**

Team Defense- Mitari, Amanuma, Ricky

**--------------------------------------------**

Lying on his back, Amanuma stared up at the clear sky and realized that he was probably one of the luckiest guys alive. 

Not only had he not been awake when he landed and was thus spared a lot of pain on landing, but also here he was conscious and alive. And pretty much fine, he thought. It was kind of hard to breathe, however compared to how he'd woken up a minute ago, so winded he could hardly draw in breath, he figured it wasn't so bad.

A few moments later brought a very concerned Ricky and Mitari, who asked a large number of questions in too loud voices that made him cringe as his head throbbed. Under Ricky's instructions, he wiggled first his fingers, then his toes, moved his feet and arms. 

"Good, hopefully that means no back damage," she concluded. "or at least, I think."

"How do you feel?" asked Mitari.

"…like I fell…off a roof and…landed on something…really hard." 

"If you have enough energy to be a smartass, you're probably alright. Tell me when this hurts," Ricky felt Amanuma's chest carefully, noting his occasional twitch. "I think you might have cracked a rib or two."

"…can't tell…it's kind of an… all around ache…" Amanuma said, it was getting easier to talk as he beginning to get his breath back.

Mitari shook his head. "I can't believe you aren't dead!"

"Hah! I'm not that…easy to kill." And with that he sat up, which turned out to be a mistake. Little lights danced in front of his eyes and his head banged ferociously. "Ow." He said as Mitari hurried to steady him. 

During the time it took Mitari to tell Amanuma that he was an idiot and for him to answer back that so was Mitari, some sixth sense made Ricky look up and see the man at the far end of the alley.

He was walking toward then, not in a clearly menacing manner, but in a casual way that still made the hairs on the back of Ricky's neck stand up. It was at that time she realized that she really had no idea what any of the evil people she'd heard about actually _looked_ like.

A flaw in the plan indeed. After all, if she shot him, what if he was just someone going for a stroll? …in a deserted alley between two empty warehouses. 

It was unlikely, but still.

"Hey, Yusuke," Ricky said into her comm..

There was no answer.

She tried again, somewhat worried.

"He's fighting Suzaku," said Kuwabara. "it might have shorted out his comm.. Or he could've broken it or something. What do you need?" there was the faintest strain in his voice, his team were getting to the end of their ropes.

"There's this guy walking toward us,"

"What does he look like?" asked Twilight though the comm..

"Tall, dark hair, half mask in one hand, scary as hell eyes—"

"Run," interrupted Kuwabara. "Right _now_."

Ricky backed up some so she was shielding Mitari and Amanuma. "Drag him up Mitari," she ordered him in an undertone. "And help him walk." Of Kuwabara she asked: "Who is this?"

"Karasu."

"Oh. Shit. Umm, is it bad," Ricky said hesitantly. "if he's got something green in his hand and looks like he's about to throw it?"

"Very bad, really bad, Ricky it's a bomb!"

Karasu let go of the bomb and it moved, powered by wings, toward the detective and the two psychics. Turning to run Mitari desperately struggled to drag his friend away, but his legs tangled and he tripped, bringing them both to the ground.

Hearing them fall Ricky threw up her arms in panic, forgetting completely about her weapon, in a futile attempt to ward off the bomb.

There was a flash of light and the green ball hit a solid wall, exploding against it.

Flabbergasted, Ricky starred at the shield that stretched in front of her now, knowing deep down and emphatically that she had made it. The same feeling that she had felt when Ivory had attacked them, the same feeling of energy in her veins.

Sure she had no idea how she had just made that shield, but it beat being dead.

"Interesting," remarked Karasu, amused, still smiling. "very interesting." He flicked his hand and another bomb appeared.

The wall of light faded away as quickly as it had come, the powerful feeling gone. She watched the bomb advance with a feeling of horror in the pit of her stomach, that shield was a fluke, this time she was in for it and so were the boys.

Once again, a stroke of luck saved them.

"Why are you just _standing_ there?" demanded a voice from at the other end of the alley than the one Karasu was at. The bomb took a sharp turn earthward, detonating against it and leaving a pit. "Run, you idiots!"

Wheeling, Ricky saw Hagiri with a hand outstretched had been the one to divert the bomb. Hurrying to the slumped boys she hauled them both upright. The former Sniper strode past them as they retreated.

If you thought about it, this made a lot of sense, Karasu threw things at people, Hagiri was good at moving things that were already moving.

It would make for one hell of an interesting fight.

For a moment Ricky paused by Hagiri, glancing back at the demon with glowing green bombs around him. "You sure you don't want some help?"

He flexed his fingers. "Positive." As Ricky joined the other two in retreating for Kuwabara's team, Hagiri faced Karasu. Breathing deeply he cracked his knuckles. "Bring it on."

Karasu smiled and took a bomb in one pale hand. "Gladly."

**--------------------------------------------**

**Team Distraction- Kotori, Sai, Kuwabara, Toya, Twilight**

**--------------------------------------------**

"Ricky?" Kuwabara asked over the comm., with concern. "Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah," she sounded breathless. "Hagiri saved our bacon. We've just come out of the alley. Are you in that the middle of circle of troll demons?"

"That would be us," rubbing the hand he summoned the Spirit Sword most often with where it ached, Kuwabara glanced at the menacing gang. Yep, they were still waiting for their chance, though Toya's occasional well-aimed ice blade had lessened the number until there were less than fifteen in total.

Then again fifteen might be enough to swamp them.

At the edge of the open ground, Ricky was waving at him, with Mitari supporting Amanuma.

There was an intense explosion from the alley they had just left, turning interest of all in sundry toward it briefly.

That was when Twilight's head snapped skyward. 

She waved her pike, letting her shield go and leapt up into the air, snagging something in her free hand. When she landed, Kuwabara saw she had an envelope. Gripping the edge of it in her teeth she tore it open one handed, tossing the envelope away and opening the paper inside to read.

She read quickly, eyes flicking from side to side. Then she swore, loudly and colorfully, and stuffed the paper into her pocket.

"What's the matter?" demanded Kuwabara.

The look she turned on him was genuinely surprised. "I just got called on a mission."

"What?" Toya paused in the act of throwing a dagger of ice to stare at her. "Right _now_?"

"Yeah," Twilight frowned. "the earth demons near the San Andreas fault are causing trouble. The report says there's going to be one hell of a earthquake if the situation's not dealt with right now." She shifted her pike from hand to hand. "I need to get to a portal. Hate to leave you guys in the lurch but, well, duty calls. Inconveniently."

Kuwabara sighed. "Is it really bad?"

"_Very,_ very bad." She replied.

He groaned, he remembered missions too, and the nasty ones in particular clarity. "Okay, then if you need to leave, you need to leave. Actually, Toya, how tired are you?"

"Not very. What is it that do need me to do?"

"Well, we need to knock off those remaining troll demons. They haven't charged us yet but it won't be long. On three, Toya and Twilight, you guys take the battle to them. Twilight, once you get past their ranks, well, good luck on your mission. Toya, try to get to Mengii and the others over there, I'm keeping these two here safe."

"I can fight," Kotori staggered to her feet, pale and bloody.

"Sit down." Kuwabara told her at once. "Now, one," the three unwounded fighters readied themselves. "two…three!" 

Toya and Twilight charged pike and ice sword held at the ready as Kuwabara re-summoned his Sword.

The troll demons barely knew what hit them. 

**--------------------------------------------**

Team Retrieval- Yusuke, Hiei, Botan, Yukina, Mengii

**--------------------------------------------**

Many people would claim that Yusuke was an idiot. And they weren't wrong. For all intensive purposes that was true. He was a moron, until he stepped onto a battlefield. Then Yusuke became a genius. 

When he got in the middle of a fight he'd noticed that the angrier he got, the more power he could get. After all look at the final round of the Dark Tournament all those years ago, that was a good example.

And right now, with Suzaku throwing lightning at him, his friend bleeding all over the floor, not a sound coming from any of the other teams through his comm., and the blood beginning to boil in his veins Yusuke got really well and truly pissed.

So what if Suzaku had almost killed him last time they fought? He was different now and that had been a long time ago. He'd gotten a lot stronger.

Wait…

Yusuke paused.

Wait a second. I've gotten stronger since I fought this guy. I have. 

He jerked aside to avoid lightning.

_And I remember that this stuff really hurts, which is why I've made a real point of not getting hit by it. But if I've gotten more powerful…_

Cupping his hands Yusuke concentrated hard. When the former Saint Beast, sweating and out of breath, hurled lighting at him again he stood his ground, his hands gleaming with power. Thrusting his hands out he shouted, letting the mix of Spirit and demonic energy flare up.

Just as he'd hoped, Suzaku's lightning skittered off the energy and was averted away from him. His hands had felt not so much as a tingle.

"How did you do that?" demanded Suzaku. "When I fought you before you had no way of deflecting my lightning. Even my Murugu was more powerful that you were!"

The light swept up Yusuke's arms, leaving blue light and twisting markings in its wake. His hair was growing longer, tattoos appearing on his skin, and demonic light staring to gleam through his eyes. "Your dumb bird had nothing on me! And you've forgotten, while you were dead," he took what looked like a half-step forward, but he blurred out of sight and when he materialized again, he was right in front of Suzaku. "I was alive and," Yusuke seized him by the front of his cloak. "I'm not the same green Spirit Detective you fought. Hell, I'm not even the Spirit Detective anymore, I got booted out for being a demon!"

Suzaku rammed a hand under Yusuke's chin, forcing his head back, his fingers flickering with electricity. But Yusuke seemed to be impervious to its effects, swatting his hand away. 

He rammed his fist into the bloody stain on Suzaku's shoulder. The sparks went out and the former Saint Beast screamed.

Sheltering behind the crates both girls covered theirs when the scream just seemed to go on and on, one long continuous horrible sound.

It stopped when Yusuke shook Suzaku hard enough to make the demon's teeth rattle. He seized the cracked red antenna.

That hurt though. The tinge ran through his arms, making the hair on them stand up. But Yusuke ignored that and in one quick twist tore the antenna off.

A storm of sparks flew around the both of them and the air crackled. Suzaku's eyes showed white all the way around, but they showed very little behind them, his hands were clenched into rigid claws. A strangled noise came from Suzaku's throat, a thin animal sound.

Tossing the broken antenna away Yusuke dropped the demon, who clutched his head, curling on the ground. Dusting off his hand Yusuke turned to the girls, who were peaking out from behind the crates. "Come on, we need to get going."

**--------------------------------------------**

"**If you don't finish me off now, I'll continue to follow you two wherever you go."**

**"Then when the time comes I'll just wind up kicking your butt again."**

**"Ha, ha, you're a truly enjoyable person. Let's see each other again, Midou."**

**(Ban Midou and Kurodo Akabane Get Backers)**

**--------------------------------------------**

**TBC**


	12. Trespassers in Heads

**Seeker**

Dane Soar

I'm surprised how many people have seen Get Backers. I'm very fond of Akabane.

From this point on the line breakers are solid lines due to formatting changes in . Most likely, you don't care too much, but it was important to me at the time to point it out!

Also there's a typo a few chapters back, **Kotori was sent to get Goki, not Suzaku** as I had her telling Yusuke for some reason. I can't believe I didn't catch that. I'm an idiot. A person who can steal souls is a lot more dangerous than a person who just channels lightning, in the long run.

Thanks to reviewers for what you do best of all and sorry this chapter jumps around more than a hyperactive five-year-old. Probably without my Editor it wouldn't make sense at all.

Chapter 12** Trespassers in Heads**

**Spirit World**

* * *

Koenma looked at the paper in front of him with extreme frustration. "Are you absolutely sure of this information, George?"

The ogre nodded grimly. "Yes sir. The ferry girl she slipped away from reported to me directly as soon as she realized that Kami was gone."

"The necromancer who started this all," Koenma stroked his chin thoughtfully. "this isn't good." He sighed and dropped his head into his hands. "Can't anyone stay _dead_ these days?"

**Inside the Warehouse Team Retrieval- Yusuke, Hiei, Botan, Yukina, Mengii**

* * *

Ignoring Yusuke's fight with Suzaku, Hiei found himself waged in an unexpected one of his own. He was busy fighting to free his wrist from Kurama's tight grip without hurting the kitsune.

By now he knew something was wrong, the way Kurama was bleeding he shouldn't have the strength to grip this hard. What it was, he wasn't exactly sure yet, but something in the back of Hiei's head, that he ignored, told him that it wasn't a good idea to be kneeling down by Kurama, or even to be getting close to him.

"Kurama," Hiei made the attempt to soften his voice, though he wasn't very good at anything that remotely required emotion. "Kurama, it's me. It's _Hiei_. We're here to take you home."

The look in Kurama's eyes changed ever so slightly; when he spoke after a moment, his voice seemed to come from a distance. "…Hiei…oh, it's you." His grip on Hiei's wrist slackened some. "I…I didn't recognize you."

"That's alright, come on, as soon as Yusuke finishes up, we're leaving." He took the hand that he had been using to attempt to pry off the hold on his arm and stroked the back of his knuckles across Kurama's cheek.

The familiar touch made the kitsune pause, releasing Hiei and frowning. Putting his hand on Kurama's shoulder to maintain contact, Hiei glanced over at Yusuke to see that he was holding Suzaku off the ground with one hand, his hair lengthening. As Hiei looked on, Yusuke tore the antenna of the shrieking Suzaku before dropping him like trash.

Two very strong hands fastened around Hiei's throat and he was pinned before he knew what was happening. Blood dripped down onto him as his mind scrambled to grasp at a reason that the kitsune would be trying to strangle him. Perhaps some sort of shock? Did he not know what he was doing?

Kicking out, Hiei managed to strike Kurama with his boot and Kurama reeled back in pain, Hiei had kicked one on the gaping wounds that Karasu had no doubt inflicted. At once Hiei felt a prick of guilt. He reached out, taking Kurama's arm.

That was when Goki burst out from the shadows between two piles of crates and seized Kurama's other arm. He had grabbed one of the dark wounds and Kurama made a pained sound, going limp.

Hiei glared and yanked the arm he held. Goki yanked back on his arm. It was a tug-of-war with an unconscious Kurama stuck in the middle.

"Let go before I burn you into an unrecognizable cinder," Hiei hissed at Goki who grinned.

With one hand the horned demon whipped something out of his pocket, hitting Kurama with it. Just as quickly he pushed the kitsune into Hiei so the added weight threw him off balance. By the time he recovered Goki was run point blank for the hole in the wall they'd come through.

Even though Hiei did throw a gout of fire after him it wasn't in time, Goki was gone. But here he had Kurama, and right now he needed to get him out.

"Yusuke," he saw that Yusuke, completely disregarding the still very alive and in pain Suzaku on the floor, had been helping Yukina and Botan with Mengii until Hiei started throwing fire around. "we're leaving."

Yusuke saw that Hiei had Kurama and hurried over. "Good, but how'd he get all the way over here?" once he was next to Hiei, he saw something out of the corner of his eye.

"He woke up," Hiei explained briefly, he was having difficulty in trying to keep Kurama upright due to the height difference between them and the fact that Kurama was covered with blood. "Would you…"

He didn't have to ask, Yusuke hefted the kitsune over his shoulder with very little effort, though the tattoos were fading from his skin, the demon energy was still pumping strongly though his veins. Once more he saw the thing out of the corner of his eye and he got a better look at it. Someone lay in the shadows between two piles of crates near them. Though he couldn't see them clearly they appeared to be dressed in white.

"_Yusuke_,"

He jumped when Hiei snapped at him. "What, oh, sorry. Yeah, we're going, but first, guys," Yusuke called to the three girls. "bring Mengii over here, would you?"

**Outside the Warehouse**

**Team Distraction- Kotori, Sai, Kuwabara, Toya, Twilight**

* * *

Toya was the one who cut down the very last troll demon, standing straight with a weary sigh. They had plowed through the remains of the gang easily, despite the fact they were exhausted and running out of energy. The other team, Mengii, Mitari, and Amanuma, had joined him.

"We need to get back to the others," Toya told them. "I don't like us being isolated here."

There were four explosions one right after another from Hagiri's direction.

"And there's that too," Ricky said. "let's go."

When they joined Kuwabara, he and Kotori appeared to be listening very intently to their comms.

"Hey, Kuwabara,"

"Is that you Yusuke?"

"Yeah, it's me, Suzaku must have shorted out my comm., but I'm on Mengii's and it works."

"Why isn't Mengii using it?" asked Kuwabara. "Did something happen to her?"

"The ward's recoil knocked her out, she'll be fine."

"And Suzaku?"

"Not dead," Yusuke replied. "but as good as. We have Kurama and we saw Goki but he ran. Tell Kotori—"

"I'm here, I have the other comm."

"Why isn't Twilight using it?"

"She had to leave, a mission," Kotori explained. "what is it?"

"Set up your portal, we're coming out."

"But I have to go after Goki—"

"No," interrupted Yusuke.

"You can catch him later," Ricky told her, putting her hand on the younger woman's shoulder. "for now, let's retreat before things get well and truly nasty."

With a curt nod, Kotori knelt and took the pack from her back, unloading the portable portal. It was four bits of strait metal that snapped together to make two, which would form the top and bottom of the portal. Once they passed through it, it would self-destruct so their enemies couldn't follow them.

Channeling her power though both pieces she dropped one to the ground and threw the other up in the air. Between them the space warped and twisted, connecting to the other side.

The grassy lawn of the Temple stretched away in front of them through the portal.

"It's ready," she told those around her and those listening though the comms.

**Alone- Hagiri**

* * *

The two purple-eyed people held each other's gaze warily across the ground between them. That ground was pitted with blackened holes and littered with small rocks and projectiles, showing the signs of a million attacks and a million defenses.

Karasu summoned another wave of bombs. "Very impressive, an almost spotless guard."

"Thanks, I think." Hagiri said hesitantly, the almost constant explosions were making his ears ring and his hands were sore from all the power he was pouring through them.

"But I wonder," a bomb veered left, away from his fellow and Hagiri had to throw his hand out quickly to deflect it. "how long can you keep this up? You are only a human after all."

Two bombs moved at once but Hagiri was able to send them into each other before either got very close.

It was a stalemate.

But only for the time being.

**

* * *

**

Outside the Warehouse

**Team Distraction- Kotori, Sai, Kuwabara, Toya, Twilight,**

**Team Retrieval- Yusuke, Hiei, Botan, Yukina, Mengii,**

**And Team Defense- Mitari, Amanuma, Ricky**

* * *

With his arm the portal steady Kuwabara waved at Kotori to go through first, she had Sai up and over her shoulder but she was shaking her head. "But, I have to find Goki—"

Kuwabara pushed he through the portal anyway. "Track him down later, after you get healed."

Seeing sense in what he said, she went, dragging her assistant after her.

"You three next," Kuwabara gestured at Ricky, Mitari, and the still shaky Amanuma. "and _hurry_." After all, they didn't know whether Karasu was. A very large explosion came from the alley that Ricky and the boys had left, hinting that Karasu be might stalled be there.

With the others gone, Toya and Kuwabara flanked the portal, alert for any enemy appearance. Barely two minutes later Yusuke came charging out of the warehouse, someone bloody with red hair over his shoulder and Mengii under his other arm with the girls running after.

"Right on schedule," muttered Kuwabara, waving an arm at his friend.

Yusuke went strait past Toya and Kuwabara and into the portal without breaking pace. A few seconds later brought Yukina and Botan to them.

"…why did we come…" Botan braced her hands on her knees and panted. "…if Yusuke is just going to drag him back again…?"

Kuwabara did a palms up.

**

* * *

**

Alone- Hagiri

* * *

That was the thing about stalemates, eventually they had to come to an end. Somebody had to loose in the end.

Hagiri had missed a bomb, which had detonated on his stomach and that had been his downfall. Currently he was too busy clutching his stomach to keep his guts in to do anything else.

Karasu looked down at the prone young man. "You lasted quite a bit longer than I would have thought," he said, as he stepped over the psychic.

It was an empty complement, considering the circumstances.

**

* * *

**

Outside the Warehouse

**Team Distraction- Kotori, Sai, Kuwabara, Toya, Twilight,**

**Team Retrieval- Yusuke, Hiei, Botan, Yukina, Mengii,**

**And Team Defense- Mitari, Amanuma, Ricky**

* * *

Both Yukina and Botan ducked through the portal just as Hiei appeared from a black blur in front of the two remaining fighters.

"Go on," Kuwabara waved at Toya to go first.

"But Goki—" Toya began, pausing.

"Not the time for that!" said Kuwabara and quickly kicked him in the back, forcibly propelling the ice master into the grass on the other side of the portal before he could protest. "You next," he told Hiei, who shook his head.

The fire demon was looking back toward the warehouse as he gestured Kuwabara to go before him. He thought he could see someone standing, framed by the warehouse door. They wore white.

With a sound of frustration, Kuwabara, who hadn't seen the person, passed through the portal calling behind him: "Hurry up Hiei, this is a _temporary_ portal, remember?"

Hiei didn't waste time on a retort, he was opening the Jagan to get a better look at that distant person. As it turned out, he didn't have time.

Yusuke had dumped the two he'd carrying and turned to make sure everyone was safely through the portal. To his dismay Hiei was still standing back on the other side. Hurrying forward to yell at him for straggling Yusuke saw something that almost froze him in his tracks. While Hiei was peering intently back toward the warehouse, Karasu had just emerged from an alley, bomb in hand and was heading right for Hiei!

Swearing under his breath, Yusuke reached back through the portal and grabbed Hiei by the back of his cloak, jerking him through just as the portal went down. As he passed backwards through the portal, Hiei saw the advancing enemy and made sure that Karasu was too busy stamping out the fire on the hem of his cloak to have time to throw the bomb.

Setting Hiei down, Yusuke glared at him. "What the _hell_ were you doing?"

"It doesn't matter." Hiei snapped. "How bad?" he asked the healers who were already bending over the unconscious Kurama.

"Bad," replied Botan. "let's get him inside the Temple, we need to get to work as soon as possible."

Looking around, Mitari counted heads and came up one short. He'd excluded Kurama, but that still meant there was someone missing. Then it hit him. "Hey guys,"  
he said slowly. "where's… Hagiri?"

**

* * *

**

Back At the Warehouse

* * *

To say that Karasu was unhappy would be an understatement. Flicking the bomb away in disgust he went over to the warehouse. His cloak billowed as he walked, showing the charred hole was quite large, which was not improving him mood. The thrown bomb blew a sizable chunk from the ground.

"And how did this occur?" he asked the person standing in the warehouse doorway. They wore white, sliver hair spilling down their shoulders, with amber eyes that were a touch too blank.

The true form of Youko Kurama.

"You are Ebony, I take it." Karasu eyed the kitsune. "How did you manage to force his body into this form?"

"Goki." The assassin said simply.

"That isn't very enlightening Ebony."

There was a tiny glint in Youko's eyes, something from Ebony seeping through, just for a moment, that could have been a number of emotions, none of them good. "Goki has betrayed you. He stole the soul out of this body." Ebony gestured to the form he was wearing. "With the stress of the moment something went wrong with the split. I cannot guarantee how much of the soul is with Goki and how much Yusuke Urameshi took with him."

"And the other form, with the red hair?"

"Is what Yusuke Urameshi took. If I was not possessing this particular body at the moment, it would be but an empty shell."

Karasu nodded. "I see. I had hoped to use you to eliminate them, but perhaps the circumstances are still reparable." He'd known that Yusuke was going to do anything he could to get Kurama back, so it would be simple to plant an assassin along the way. What would Kurama do, after watching himself kill his friends? It had been an interesting and truly malicious idea.

Of course he was going to kill the kitsune in the end, but only after he had inflicted as much pain to him as he could possibly manage. And any other person from that team or was associated with them that got in the way… well, it was just an added bonus.

He was going to probably get killed again in the end, but in the meantime, he meant to make sure it was worth it then that point arrived. "So Goki has left my services, you wear Kurama's shell, and what happened to poor, weakened Suzaku?"

"See for yourself." Ebony lead Karasu into the other room in the warehouse.

There the wall had been blown apart and rubble lay strewn across the floor. And in the middle of the bits lay Suzaku. The lightning demon was uttering short strange noises, clutching his head in clawed hands— he'd scratched lines in his cheeks without even knowing— as lightning ran freely over his skin.

"Without both your antenna, it appears that you've completely lost control of your power," remarked Karasu.

On hearing his voice, Suzaku uncurled, rising to his knees. He reached pleadingly toward Karasu, lightning crackling through the air around his fingers as he pleaded in a high thin voice. "Karasu, help me,_ help me_!"

But the other demon took a step away from the groping hand, staring disdainfully down at the crippled creature. "And without your power, I have no use for you." A smile quirked at the edge of Karasu's mouth, as if he was about to do something that would be amusing. "Come, Ebony." he turned and headed back into the alley, placing the half-mask back on his face. Behind him there was an explosion.

When the dust cleared, Suzaku was charred corpse smoked on the floor.

For a moment Ebony glared at Karasu's back, then followed him.

More and more, he was beginning to dislike this employer.

* * *

Through the haze that only comes with extreme pain, Hagiri saw feet approaching. Tilting his head back, he saw Karasu was attached to these feet. And that he was followed by another person, one that Hagiri didn't recognize.

Karasu pointed at him. "Possess him and return to the rest of them. I will be pursuing Goki."

The stranger looked down at Hagiri with great scorn in his amber eyes. "This human is dying," he said flatly.

"You can slow down that process, as you did with Kurama. I wish you to destroy the Spirit Detective's allies from the inside."

The silver haired stranger nodded. "Very well," and suddenly went very stiff, then dark smoke poured from between the stranger's lips, twining up into the air. When the cloud of black smoke settled, there were two people standing in the place where one had previously been. The new one was black, from head to toe.

Unnoticed, or so it seemed to Hagiri, the person in white toppled forward, falling to the ground much like a doll does when one drops it.

When the black man reached down to him, Hagiri struggled to rise, his eyes going wide in panic, but the bloody hole he had were most people had a stomach was slowing him down from getting away.

Anyone who chose to walk by the warehouses at that moment would have heard a very human scream echo in the air…

…and then stop _very_ suddenly.

* * *

…

* * *

**TBC**

* * *

* * *

* * *

* * *


	13. Touch and Go

**Seeker**

Dane Soar

I'm sorry for the long wait, I try to update as soon as I can but this has been a very busy two weeks for me as it was production week and tec week of a play. You know you're in the country when a pig wanders into the school track and makes your curtain time late. Now that the play is over, I will hopefully have more time to write.

This is the inevitable 'licking our wounds chapter' that seems to follow most high action things. Soon Doctor will show up, as usual, he's bailing Hagiri out. He's useful for that sort of thing.

Anyway, please drop a review and thanks for reading folks!

Chapter 13 **Touch and Go**

* * *

**America**

**New York City**

* * *

Looking the crime scene, detective Alan Griffin scratched his head. "This has officially got me stumped."

"That's not a hard thing to do," muttered his partner Kevin Ringer under his breath, as he looked over his notes. "But this is a strange case." He agreed.

"Yeah, seventeen people don't go into a coma at the same time every day." Griffin made a face. "This is damn bizarre!"

Apparently some man had run through this part of the street, then seventeen pedestrians had just fallen over, catatonic. They were at the hospital now, but the doctors were baffled as to what had happened. They'd run test after test and come up blank.

The only clue was the sighting of the man before the people collapsed. Ringer sighed. Of course most of those eyewitnesses had also claimed the man had horns and greenish skin, so he wasn't too sure how trustworthy they were.

"Bizarre is the way I would describe it too," Ringer agreed with Griffin.

"You know," Griffin gave a tiny smile. "this is just the kind of case Chi and Ricky would take. Remember how Chi loved these weird cases?"

"Of course I do. Wish they would hurry up and get back to work so we don't end up with them."

"Hear hear." Griffin agreed.

* * *

**Genkai's Temple**

**Three Hours Later**

* * *

Yusuke sat in the corner of the sickroom and generally tried to stay out of the way of Yukina and Botan as the two struggled to keep Kurama from shuffling off his mortal coil.

He didn't pray, but he came as close as he could without doing the actual thing. As he watched the healers work, Yusuke clenched his hands hard enough that the knuckles cracked and kept chanting the same comforting mantra to himself over an over, under his breath.

"He's gonna be okay, he's gonna be okay, he's gonna be okay…" For some reason Yusuke just couldn't seem to convince himself.

* * *

Kuwabara had glanced into the sickroom briefly a few hours ago, but seeing that the only free, out of the way corner was inhabited by Yusuke, he'd ducked back out again. It was a good thing too; had he'd stayed in the sickroom he wouldn't have run across Mitari and Amanuma and stopped them.

"But we need to go back!" Mitari protested.

"No you don't," Kuwabara grabbed Amanuma, who had started to walk off. He tried to pull away but Kuwabara had a very strong grip. Some struggling ensued and Kuwabara ended up having to half lift Amanuma off the ground by hooking his arms under the other psychic's armpits and pulling upward.

Still he struggled, kicking and thrashing. "We have to go back! We have to go back and get Hagiri!"

"He's right," Mitari said, stubbornly, with eyes that said there was no arguing with him on this point. "We left Hagiri behind once before, and we're not doing it again because this time, he's not bleeding on a cliff somewhere, we know where he is and he's in danger!"

With a sigh, Kuwabara said something he really didn't want to have to say. "Look guys, this isn't something I know you want to hear, but, well, if he really was left fighting Karasu… you should face the fact that Hagiri might already be dead."

All at once, like the words had been a blow, Amanuma went limp in his hold. He very carefully put him down, sensing that he wasn't going to run off anymore.

"Now, both of you, sit." Very firmly, Kuwabara led them over to the temple porch and sat them both down. Then he spoke as comfortingly as he could. "Look, you two, what the hell do you think you could manage by rushing back there with no plan whatsoever?"

There was a muttering from the two of them that could be loosely translated as: "…not too much."

"Exactly. And that's why you're not about to leave without the rest of us to back you up. Just wait, let us regroup and lick our wounds, then we'll go and kick Karasu's ass and get Hagiri back. We don't leave our own people behind. Or at least," he added after a moment's thought. "we don't on _purpose_. And even then, we always go back for them."

Crossing his arms, Kuwabara glared at the two. "So what are we not doing to do the moment I walk away?"

Again there was a resentful muttering from Mitari and Amanuma.

"What was that?" demanded Kuwabara, who wanted a clear answer on this one.

"We won't run off on our own," Mitari said.

"Like idiots," added Amanuma, grumpily.

"Good. Hey, where are you two going?" he had seen Kotori and Toya striding very determinedly across the temple lawn. Leaving Mitari and Amanuma, Kuwabara chased after them. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm going after Goki." Kotori said in a firm way.

"Then why's Toya with you?"

"He wants to go with me," she added. The look in her eyes suggested that she didn't want to hear arguments.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Kuwabara had the strangest feeling of deja vu. He was sure he had just had a conversation like this… "Look, don't make me have to pick one of you up."

The Spirit Detective and the ice master exchanged perplexed looks. "We need to leave," Kotori said insistently.

"No, you can't. I know you're both ready to go, but Kotori you're still injured and I'm sure you don't have a damn plan."

"But—" began both of them at the same time.

Kuwabara interrupted them. "But nothing. Goki's on the run and he's not getting too much farther away as you wait. You two are both experts in tracking, you can nab him anytime you want. Recover a little and you'll be stronger when you finally track him down." He let them consider it for a moment. _For the second time in as many minutes I'm arguing with some really boneheaded people,_ Kuwabara thought. "I know, Kotori, you want to finish your mission, and Toya, I know you have your own bone to pick with Goki, but just wait. Besides, Kotori, aren't you wounded?"

She sighed and held her hand to her side. "It's stopped bleeding and I've bandaged it. It wasn't very deep in the first place anyway so it hardly matters."

"And where's Sai?"

"Resting. He'll be all right. As soon as the healers are free I'm sure they'll be able to tend to his shoulder."

He frowned at her. "And you're fine with that? Don't you want to stick around to make sure he'll be alright?" she shifted uneasily. "Won't you two wait for a bit?"

It was Toya who made up his mind. "Very well. Kotori, please inform me before you leave." He turned on his heel and stalked angrily back into the temple, ice crackling behind him.

"And what about you?" Kuwabara asked Kotori.

"I'll wait too. You're right in saying that I should stay for a while. I suppose after three hours, another few aren't going to make much of a difference."  
"Good choice," he patted her on the back. "go back inside an rest up."

As she did so, Kuwabara turned and saw that the place on the porch Mitari and Amanuma had been sitting in was now taken by Ricky, who was sitting with her head in her hands.

What with Kurama out for the count and Yusuke busy, Kuwabara was left to take care of the team, as well as he could.

_I should charge them_, he thought as he seated himself next to Ricky. "So what's wrong with you?"

"My head is killing me," she kept it in her hands even as she spoke. "I've never had a headache like _this_ before,"

Kuwabara looked at her, and unfocused his eyes so he could Look, in that special psychic way. He'd hung around the temple a lot, before and after Genkai had died and he had to run it's day to day workings, and had seen this take place a lot in fact.

"So, did something strange happen back at that warehouse?" he asked tentatively.

"Strange like what?"

"If it happened, you'd know what I'm talking about."

"Well," very slowly, so it wouldn't cause too much pain, Ricky raised her head to meet his gaze. "when Karasu was advancing on us, I mean, Mitari and Amanuma and I, he threw a bomb at us and I… I kind of panicked."

"And what happened after that?" Kuwabara prompted her.

"I made this thing, like a wall but light."

"A shield, of course. I had wondered why Karasu didn't put so much as a scratch on you guys."

"I made a _shield_? I thought that took, you know, psychic things."

"Spirit energy you mean," Kuwabara rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I know I had my suspicions when you stood up so fast after Ivory's attack, Twilight mentioned it to me too before she left."

"Mentioned what?"

"That she was watching you after Ivory let us out of her Limbo and you glowed a little before you got up. See, what I'm getting at is when you hang around demons too much, and this really only applies to powerful ones like Kurama and Yusuke, it has an effect on humans. Demons leak energy, without really meaning too, and if you spend a lot of time near a demon, like oh say, Kurama, day in and out, that energy starts to have an effect on you."

"What sort of effect?"

"Like if you had some psychic potential, suddenly it makes it a lot stronger," Kuwabara saw that Ricky's expression was going a little blank. "Think of a faucet. Before you hung around Kurama a lot the power you had was the equivalent of a faucet just dripping water. Then it was like someone turned the tap some and now more water is streaming out."

Ricky brightened. "You mean I can like, make things fly around or blow stuff up? I mean, you said 'psychic potential' but as a kid I never did any of that kind of thing."

"No and no. That kind of thing takes more power than you have. If you were more powerful you'd have know it when you were younger. I had a strong six sense when I was a kid, and being around Yusuke really turned that tap hard, if you get what I mean. Maybe if you study hard you could lift a pen off the ground, but shielding probably won't be beyond you."

"Oh…" she looked thoughtful. "so the headache?"

"Reaction headache. Throwing up that shield on pure instinct kind of strained you. It should fade soon. The channels in your head are a little blasted but they'll heal."

"Good to know," Ricky said. "wow, a psychic…I never thought…I mean, wow. That's interesting. This, and I really mean all this, the demon thing and all that, is still something of a shock."

"You are taking this pretty well, by the way. For a newcomer to this whole wonderful world of demons, you're not panicking, frothing at the mouth, or ranting on about how impossible it all is. Which is an improvement on most other people I've seen go through this same thing."

She shrugged. "Well, I came to the conclusion that I am probably wasn't ever going to understand this, so for now, I'm just kind of rolling with it and seeing where it gets me. Though I want to talk to Chi, or Kurama, or whatever, about this, but I have a feeling that's probably not going to happen anytime soon."

* * *

Botan and Yukina were still at it an hour later and Yusuke had been joined by Kayko in his corner. She held his hand and leaned her head on his shoulder in a comforting manner, but Yusuke was too distracted to pay too much attention.

Finally Botan tied off the last bandage and Yukina let the healing glow fade from her hands, sitting back with a tired sigh.

"That's about all we can do for the time being," said Botan wearily. "he should be okay."

"How bad was it?" Yusuke asked tentatively.

"He should have been dead when we got to him, it's a miracle we were in time to do any thing at all." Yukina said, wiping the sweat daintily, or as much as was possible, from her forehead

The amount of relief that went through Yusuke all at once was enough to make him visibly slump.

"Come on," Kayko gently pulled on his arm. "you need to get some air," and she was right. That and the fact that the room was crowded with that many people in it convinced Yusuke to leave with her. And when Kayko added, "There's something very important I need to tell you," he got a bit worried.

And rightly so, as it would later turn out.

* * *

Ebony had only taken the lightest of holds on this mind, so Hagiri would be able to function as he normally did, but Ebony could influence his thoughts in the subtlest of fashions. Of course if it mattered, he could seize complete control, however he wouldn't resort to that unless it was absolutely necessary.

So it was Hagiri who was slumped at the foot of the stairs that led to the temple grounds.

He looked up them.

Then groaned.

Those were a _lot_ of steps.

And he was still bleeding his guts out.

Of course there had to be a whole lot of steps between him and help. Story of his life. Story of his _damn_ life.

Slowly and painfully, he dragged himself up onto the first steps, but had to stop just from that effort. It hurt too much to move anytime soon.

He leaned his back against the stone stairs and looked up at the sky. It was a pretty blue. Good for it.

"Man, you look like hell," a familiar voice said, as a shadow fell over him. The woman called Twilight was peering down at him. "Come on," she grabbed his shoulder. "you aren't going to get anything done just lying there. Let's put these stupid steps behind us."

* * *

"So who was he?" Amanuma asked.

Toya looked at the psychic with such cold eyes, Amanuma felt a shiver go down his back. He didn't know Toya very well and the icemaster was more than a little scary. "What did you say?"

"I was just, um, curious. Who was he?" Amanuma nodded at the person who could have been sleeping on the pallet. "A friend of yours?"  
"Who _is_ he, I think you mean," Toya said. "Jin is my teammate."

"Is that the same as a friend?"

"_Yes_."

Amanuma felt the temperature drop some and backed off some. "Sorry, sorry. But, what happened to him? He's sort of… blank looking."

He waited, but Toya was quiet for so long Amanuma thought he wasn't going to answer. Finally he spoke, his eyes dark. "His soul was taken by Goki."

"Wow, that… that's really bad. I guess that explains why you want to track down Goki so bad. Err, Kotori mentioned to me you said you were going with her and Sai," he added, when Toya raised an eyebrow. "I hope you catch him. Because it sucks, loosing a friend."

"You're talking about the psychic that was left behind?"

"Yeah," Amanuma sat and his arms around his legs, his chin on his knees. "his name's Hagiri."

"A friend of yours?" Toya's eyes softened some.

"Yeah. He _is_."

"And you worry about him?"

"Oh yeah." Amanuma made a face. "Hagiri is a trouble magnet. Always has been. Probably always will be. I'm just hoping he's not gotten himself killed this time."

"But you think he has." The tone Toya used made it a statement and not a question.

"Well, this is a guy with practically terminal bad luck, who got left in the same place where a evil bombing killer was wandering around! Of course I think he might be de… might be in trouble." If Toya noticed the pause and the rewording, he didn't say bring it up.

"You shouldn't assume that."

"Why not?!"

"Because you don't know he's dead."

"He might be!"

Toya gestured at Jin. "He might be too, if I can't save him in time. That doesn't mean I've written him off as a lost case already."

"Oh." Amanuma subsided. "I suppose you've got a point." There was silence between the two for a few minutes, each lost in their own thoughts. "Kuwabara said that we were going to back for him." Amanuma said finally. "I sort of didn't believe him."

"He isn't the kind of person who would lie about that."

"No, now that I think about it, he isn't."

There was the sound of footsteps pounding up to the door and it was slid open. "There you are Amanuma," said Mitari, who was a little out of breath. "I was looking all over for you!"

"What's going on?" Amanuma asked.

"Kuwabara felt people coming up the stairs and, it's Twilight. And she's got Hagiri with her!"

Amanuma was on his feet in a flash. "Seriously?"

"Deadly serious."

"I've gotta go," Amanuma told Toya quickly. "it was nice talking to you. I hope you can help your friend." He and Mitari pelted off.

When they were gone Toya stood and left, shutting the sliding door quietly. He couldn't stand watching those very blank blue eyes of Jin's anymore.

* * *

"Well, that's it," said Yukina, sitting back on her heels. "I'm completely tapped out."

"Lucky for me you had some left," Sai said, grinning and rubbing his healed shoulder. "and lucky for Kotori too." He smiled up at her and the Spirit Detective briefly got a strange look on her face.

"We need to leave," she said quickly. "Goki is getting farther and farther away as we speak."

"No you don't," Yukina told her firmly. "or you might reopen your wound in your side. Wait a bit to let the healing sink in."

"But—"

"No buts about it, just wait for at least half an hour."

Defeated Kotori seated herself next to Sai on the floor. Alright." As Yukina left she could have sworn she heard her mutter. "All anyone has been telling me lately is to wait. This is driving me insane!"

* * *

The only married couple in the entire group sat on the porch of the temple.

"Okay, Yusuke," Kayko took a deep breath and nervously linked her hands in her lap. "just let me say this all at once, before something happens and you have to go do something."

"Sure," said Yusuke. "Hit me with it. Whatever it is that's so important."

"I wanted to tell you, I'm—"

"Yusuke!" Botan called from the other end of the porch.

The couple jumped about a foot straight up in the air.

"Yusuke, something might be wrong with Kurama," Botan yelled urgently to him. "We need you!"

"Umm," Yusuke shot a look a Kayko.

She sighed wearily. "Go. We'll get back to this later."

With an apologetic pat on her shoulder, Yusuke stood. "I'll make sure of it." Then he trotted over to Botan. "What's the crisis?"

"You might want to see this yourself," she responded and led him back to the room were Kurama was.

As soon as he entered, Yusuke knew something was wrong. "Is he supposed to be awake?"

"He isn't," Hiei said from the corner.

For the second time Yusuke jumped about a foot. He hadn't seen Hiei there when he came in. In fact, he hadn't seen hide nor hair of him up until this point. Of course, he'd probably been nearby the entire time, but that was Hiei for you.

"He isn't what?" Yusuke asked, taking the sudden appearance in stride.

Hiei gestured at Kurama. "Isn't awake."

And Hiei was right, Yusuke could see. Kurama was lying on the pallet, and yes, his eyes were open, but they were completely vacant of any kind of life. He was just staring at the ceiling, only the occasional blink or intake of breath showing life.

"I can see what you mean. Why do you need me?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Yusuke saw Botan shoot a nervous glance at Hiei. "Well, Hiei has an idea about how to see what's wrong. It's a little out there, but I think it might work."

"So what is it?"

"By using the Jagan, Hiei thinks he can send you inside Kurama's head to ask him yourself."

"…Jeez. You're right Botan, that is out there. In fact, it just sounds crazy. But it does sound like it might work. Why don't you just do it yourself Hiei?"

But Hiei was shaking his head. "I'm too close. There's a chance I might not be able to pull back out if I had to. If it's someone else it would be safer."

Yusuke saw at that moment that Hiei looked worried, his eyes had the slightest hint of the dark shadow of fear in them and his mouth was a thin line. He was afraid, horribly, gut wrenchingly afraid for Kurama, but was keeping it together. Barely.

"Okay," Yusuke sat. "I'm up for the dangerous mind probing thing that might not even work."

"Ready?" Hiei untied the cloth from the Jagan.

The cocky smile showed itself briefly. "Bring it on, Hiei. Bring it on."

* * *

"**You get a wonderful view from the point of no return."**

**(Moist von Lipwig Making Money)**

* * *

**TBC**


	14. Treachery On the Inside

**Seeker **

Dane Soar

Many people commented that the inside of Kurama's was probably a very interesting place and I agree. Who knows what you could find in there? At last Doctor makes his appearance, it's taken him a while, hasn't it?

And to the person who went and read Skulduggery Pleasant, I'm glad you liked it, it was very quotable.

**Chapter 14** **Treachery On the Inside**

* * *

**Genkai's Temple, Sort Of**

**More Immediately: Inside a Mind**

* * *

It was strange, Yusuke thought, somewhat vaguely. He seemed to be traveling very slowly toward light in the distance. It was muffled, but seemed to be shining between stones.

The pace he was approaching at however, and since he wasn't walking it had been hard to judge it at first, was a slow crawl.

"Can we speed this up a little?" he asked, saying it out loud for lack of a better direction on communication.

There was the impression of a scowl and an annoyed sound that felt like Hiei, then abruptly, he was there.

--

The first thing that came to Yusuke's attention was the architecture.

It was confused. Really confused. Arches and columns seemed to be fighting each other for dominance and for the privilege of holding the marble ceiling up. A few were halfway between an arch and a column and fighting all the way.

Then the illumination, that came to Yusuke's attention next.

Half torches and half candles. Nothing seemed to be definite in this place beyond all places inside Kurama's head.

As any student of Genkai's bash your-brains-in-and-yell-the-teachings-right-into-your-still-ringing-ear training soon learned to do, Yusuke took a long moment to take in his surroundings. The starry fresco on the ceiling was peeling, the marble floor was cracked, the occasional column toppled, and there were bright valuable things scattered across one side of the chamber.

Laid into the floor were the white and black squares for the game chess, with pieces thrown every which way. There was someone on the other side of the board, Yusuke had almost not seen them because they were in the shadow of one of the fallen columns, a pair of wary green eyes caught the light as they watched him.

"Kurama?" he asked.

"…is that… Yusuke?" the voice said hesitantly. It was Kurama's voice, undoubtedly.

Yusuke blew out a sigh of relief. "Oh, good. You're okay. You were all weird back in real life, so Hiei did some eye stuff and sent me in here to check things out."

"'Okay' you say?" repeated Kurama, and his voice was somewhat bitter. He stood and Yusuke saw that he held his arm awkwardly.

"Wait, your arm, did something happen to your hand? It's all… bloody,"

"Do you play?"

"Huh?"

The redhead sat and indicated the board in front of him. "Chess. Do you play? I don't remember if I taught you. I know I taught Hiei, or at least," Kurama paused. "…I think I did."

Hesitantly Yusuke seated himself on a cushion on the other side of the board. "No, I haven't got the faintest clue how to,"

"I can teach you." One handed, Kurama began to set pieces quickly in place. "It isn't hard, or at least the basics aren't."

And there was a strange moment when Yusuke's mind stuttered. By now, he was used to the way Kurama spoke, that touch of a strange formal demonic accent and he'd expected him to say "the basics are really simplicity itself." And that wasn't what he'd heard. He frowned, but didn't comment.

That seconds thought had been long enough for Kurama to get the board completely set up, although a blank space jumped out at Yusuke. "You forgot a piece," he pointed to the empty place.

"Ah that, the white bishop should go there,"

"Do you know where it is?"

Mutely Kurama held out the hand he'd been favoring.

"Well…That…um… explains that then," said Yusuke faintly. The bishop was a pointed, vaguely cone shaped piece, and it was driven right through Kurama's palm.

"Why don't we just leave the actual piece out of this game," he suggested coolly.

Yusuke's mind did that strange brain stutter again. He'd been expecting: "Why don't we omit the actual piece?". _Now why do I keep doing that? And now that we're on the subject, something's wrong with you Kurama, and whatever it is, it's nasty. So the question is, why the hell are we playing chess and not fixing it?_

* * *

**The Actual Genkai's Temple**

* * *

As Toya watched from the temple, there was a minor convergence around the top of the long stairs. The two who had just arrived were greeted, if that's what it could be called. Kuwabara and Twilight were exchanging wary looks, Amanuma appeared to be in some sort of panic, Mitari was making a beeline for the temple, yelling for Botan and Yukina, and the psychic, Hagiri, Amanuma's friend, just lay on the ground.

"Quick!" Mitari shouted to him. "Get the healers! Hagiri's hurt real bad!"

Unfortunately, once both of the healers had been located, the results were not good.

"I'm so sorry," Yukina said. "I don't have anything else, I used the last of my power to heal Sai. I can't do anything for at least five hours and only then if I have a chance to recuperate."

And Botan wrung her hands. "And I all I have left is a trickle of power, besides, I don't have near enough skill to deal with this…" she mutely gestured down to were Hagiri was laying on the grass and lowered her voice. "this extent of injuries. His entire stomach is blow away!"

Squatting, Mitari asked Hagiri. "You okay?"

There was a mumble into the grass that sounded vaguely affirmative and mostly annoyed.

"Good. You still have you cell phone on you?"

"…coat." muttered Hagiri

Quickly, Mitari slid his hand into the coat pocket and pulled out a cell.

"What're you doing?" demanded Amanuma, who, after Kuwabara had hit him over the back of the head, had stopped panicking.

But Mitari had already turned the cell on and was scrolling through it. "I'm looking for Doctor's number."

**Ten Minutes Later**

Kayko was cooking in that sort of fanatical way people did when they were trying to be busy so they wouldn't have time to think about anything else. She cut, boiled, fried, mixed, and sautéed with singled minded concentration.

Around the side kitchen table several people sat, in various states of weariness, and watched her move around the kitchen with great interest. They numbered Ricky, who was still nursing a less than critical headache, Mengii, who had just woken up (recoil was nothing to mess around with), Kotori, who looked somewhat sulky, and Sai, who had his head down on the table napping. Yukina had been there for some time, but it is hard to watch someone else working in your kitchen without saying anything, so she had left.

Being the one closest to Kayko, Ricky felt somewhat obliged to make conversation. "So, um, what are you making?"

"Chinese food." said Kayko shortly.

"Chinese food? Why that?"

"Well, Yukina has most of the ingredients here and Chinese food is harder to make," She set a pan down and sighed. "I need the distraction."

"I…see." Ricky said. "Umm, are you making eggrolls? I could kill for an eggroll,"

Mengii cast her an amused look and Ricky considered the livelihood of many of those in the temple and rephrased herself. "I would do a _lot_ for a eggroll. Jeeze, I keep forgetting the whole demon thing. Foot in mouth, that's me."

"Yusuke too, sometimes," Kayko commented.

They all looked at her and she blushed, quickly turning back to the stove.

"Right…" Ricky eventually said. "Continuing on, how 'bout those eggrolls? I'm starving,"

"Yes," said Kayko, still focusing on her cooking. "but I'm also making chicken with a sweet and sour sauce. Dumplings too, if I have time. We have a lot of mouths too feed now, everyone must be getting hungry."

"Well, not quite as many as you'd think," Kotori said and began ticking off people on her fingers. "Mitari ran off, he mentioned something about Doctor, Hagiri's bleeding a lot, food probably isn't on his mind at the moment. Yukina's around somewhere and she will be hungry, but Amanuma is busy trying to keep Hagiri distracted so not him. Toya and Hiei, well, I don't know where they are but Twilight's back, she was talking with Kuwabara when I last saw them and they're probably hungry. Lastly Yusuke and Botan are doing something or other with Kurama and Botan said they can't be disturbed. Besides us, I don't I missed anyone,"

"There's still everyone else in the temple," Sai pointed out, raising his head from the table. "they're staying clear of us, but you know demons, once you mention food, they'll come running."

"How do you know that?" Kayko asked him. "You're the assistant to the Spirit Detective, you can't possibly know any demons very well,"

"You'd be surprised," Sai said darkly. "all I'm saying is that you should probably make a lot more of whatever you're cooking. You'll need it!"

* * *

**Half An Hour Later**

* * *

Doctor looked a little different than Mitari had remembered, more lines on his face, some gray at the very roots of his hair, his eyes a little narrower, his forehead a little higher. He put these small differences down to age and perhaps a few touches of Kamiya's psychic scalpel to make the psychic harder to track down.

Much like Hagiri, Kamiya didn't enjoy Spirit World's attention.

For that reason, Doctor had relocated to Chicago after they had all met up two years ago. When Mitari had called him he hadn't been at all surprised to find out that Hagiri had gotten himself into trouble again, of the potentially fatal kind.

A very fast portal jump had gotten him to New York's Dojo, where Mitari was able to meet him. Another jump, they were in too much of a hurry to worry about the dangers of the Makai, even as they passed though it at a sprint.

Now they were dashing up the temple stairs about as fast as it was possible to do so without tripping breaking their necks. They were on the way, and not a moment too soon.

* * *

**Mind**

* * *

There are many things it was difficult to do simultaneously. Maintaining a conversation with a elusive redhead while trying not to get slaughtered on the chessboard were high on the list.

Chess, well, Kurama had explained the rules, the piece's names, and how they moved, but most of it had been lost of Yusuke. In one ear and out the other, which was probably why there were three a black pieces lined up on Kurama's side. They were called pawns, he thought and he hoped they weren't too important.

And as for the conversation, if he'd had any illusions about being able to control that, Yusuke had lost them by now.

"Seriously Kurama, I need to know why you aren't awake,"

"It's your turn,"

"What? Oh," Yusuke moved a castled shaped piece to another square randomly.

In a flash the castle piece was taken by a lurking pawn. It joined the line of captured pieces.

"Are you hurt or something? Yukina and Botan healed you, but maybe they missed something."

"Go Yusuke,"

"Huh?"

"Your play." A pale finger pointed at the board.

He moved his other castle piece.

Kurama's white castle took one of his other pieces, the pointy one, bishop, that was it. However the loss wasn't complete because Kurama spoke. "Hurt isn't _quite_ how I would put it."

"Then how would you put it?" Yusuke saw Kurama open his mouth and made a move at random.

With an approving nod, Kurama changed what he was going to say. "Look around you Yusuke, who do you think usually plays your side of the board?"

Looking at the cushions and glittery objects Yusuke didn't have to think hard. "Wait," he said, an idea forming. "that form you have…if this is really inside your head…"

"Not to interrupt you, but it's your turn Yusuke."

"Just a second, let me think. If this is _your_ head…and you're Shuichi and you represent that form… wait, where's the bit that is Youko?" Yusuke frowned down at the board and picked up the knight. With a sure move, he moved it in the L shape and took one of Kurama's bishops, the first for his side.

"That's it," said Kurama, though he didn't clarify whether he was talking about the game or Yusuke's speculation.

"And…" Yusuke didn't even watch to see Kurama's, no if he was right then it was Shuichi's, move. He looked up into the chipped fresco above. "Hiei, you said Goki grabbed Kurama in the warehouse, did he…I don't know, do something strange?"

There was a vague feeling of assent, but it felt like it was from very far away. In front of his eyes, Yusuke briefly saw a picture. It looked like it was from Hiei's point of view. He was holding onto Kurama's arm, but Goki had the other one and was pulling. He watched as Goki hit Kurama with something and run.

"Thanks," he said out loud and got a brief urge to hurry up in return. "So Goki hit you with something, huh Kurama? And remembering Jin, and of course, what Goki likes to do, I'm guessing…wait, you're Shuichi, and Youko's missing so where is he? Goki tried to steal your soul, didn't he?" The pieces all fit. That explained why Kurama wasn't waking up and why Yusuke kept expecting Kurama to phrase himself like, well, like Kurama, not Shuichi.

"Very good Yusuke," a smile that was more human than anything else crossed Shuichi's face. "and it's your turn by the way. Check."

"Crap." Yusuke looked down at the board, see a castle menacing his king, which he hadn't done a very good job in guarding.

"Forget the game," Shuichi said. With a delicate flick he sent his king over onto its side. "its not important." He stood, looking up at the ruined ceiling his wounded hand cradled in the other arm.

"Why didn't you just tell me this missing bit of soul thing right out?" Yusuke demanded. "It would have saved a lot of time,"

"I'm sorry about that. But you see… I am…" there was something as Shuichi paused, a ripple over the redhead's outline, and Yusuke was reminded of a time Hiei had cast a bad illusion and it had kept jumping. "…there isn't very much of me here. After all this place was damaged in the attack."

"Attack?"

"Ebony," Shuichi explained shortly. "he…possesses. Conquers. Then manipulates. But Goki's move drove Ebony out."

"Oh crap!"

"What?"

Yusuke bounced the heal off his hand off his forehead. "I just remembered something. When I was in the warehouse, I saw someone laying between those crates and they were in white."

"Yes, the effects of the fragmentation made me shed the other form. The body onto the floor and the soul to Goki's orb. Or so I must suppose." Shuichi shrugged minutely. "I can't do anything like this, I'm lucky that enough of me was left behind to make this body more than a shell."

"But if we got the soul back, and grabbed the other body and crammed them back into you, would you do okay?"

"Mental scarring and trauma aside, I suppose I would be." And again there was that waver. "However as I am now, I can't keep functioning for very long."  
"Okay," Yusuke got up. "then that's my cue. Hiei, get me the _hell_ out of here."

**America**

**New York**

**The Familiar Old Warehouse**

The body had been left on the cold floor, or rather, discarded there. It was clear that this had been done with some regret, the person had crossed the body's hands on his chest and arranged it so that it looked quite peaceful, as if it was merely sleeping

The ghost of Kami the necromancer leaned over the body of the kitsune, looking at it with great interest. The pale skin tinted almost gray around the edges, the white hair fanned out in an arc under the body, and the distinctive ears and tail.

Here was she, quite vulnerable as a ghost, and here was a fine empty body, just lying here oh so conveniently with no soul to call it it's own.

A smile crossed Kami's face.

**Temple**

Amanuma had been left with the not so easy task looking after Hagiri until Mitari could get back. He hadn't been sure how best to do this. But making sure the other psychic didn't die before help could get there seemed like a good start.

To that end, he spoke to him. About nothing in-particular, about the temple, about some of the new people on the team, about himself, about the new computer game he wanted to design as soon as he was out of collage. Anything that came to mind.

But what Amanuma was careful not to mention was how worried he was that Mitari might not come back in time. Because Hagiri didn't look good at all.

It probably didn't help that he'd refused to lay down on the pallet on the floor, instead choosing to slump against the wall. That had been the last straw for Yukina, who, unable to help anymore and a little annoyed that her healing power had let her down, had left a while ago.

"How do you feel?" Amanuma asked eventually, when he ran out of things to say.

Hagiri glowered at him though half mast lids.

"Oh, sorry, dumb question I guess." He was afraid to let silence lie between them for too long because he noticed that Hagiri's eyes were starting to close. He'd been left with very firm instructions to not under any circumstances let Hagiri fall asleep.

He might not ever wake up. "Hey!" Amanuma said sharply. "Hey, don't go to sleep," that didn't work so he tried nudging him on the arm. No change. "Hey there, come on! Open your eyes!"

It was no use. He couldn't get any response. Worried and increasingly desperate by the second, Amanuma dug in his pocket until he could find the game controller that he made sure to keep with him always.

Hesitantly, not sure if what he was doing was right, he settled down next to the other psychic, the controller resting on his knee, both his hands already busy at the buttons. Well, he figured, if he could puppet him, maybe he could keep Hagiri from slipping off. Who knew? There was a chance.

His head bowed in concentration.

To anyone watching, Amanuma wouldn't move for a few very long moments.

Then abruptly and all at once his eyes snapped open. Amanuma jerked back, almost falling over backward before he caught himself on his hands. "Holy crap," breathed Amanuma looking with horror back at Hagiri. "what the hell is…"

And he trailed off because Hagiri had opened his eyes. There was a strange unfocused expression in them.

"What is that?" said Amanuma. "There's no way your Hagiri, who… no, _what_ are you?" he backpedaled furiously, getting to his feet and turning to run for the door. He had to get to someone, there was something really, _really_ wrong here.

Unfortunately, Amanuma had made a mistake as soon as he had turned his back. He'd assumed that because of the amount of blood Hagiri had lost that he wasn't able to move. And he would have been right, if not for the influence that Ebony had just exerted.

In one fluid movement, Hagiri surged up and grabbed Amanuma by the back of the neck. He slammed his head viciously against the hard floor. There as a crack.

Amanuma didn't move.

Only three minutes later Mitari and Doctor burst into the room. They found Hagiri slumped against a closed closet door.

The unconscious Amanuma was stuffed among blankets inside, only inches away.

"**These are desperate times Mrs. Lovett, desperate measures are called for."**

**(Sweeney Todd)**

**TBC**


	15. The Second Interlude

****

Seeker

Dane Soar

Another interlude, a little like the first in that it takes place inside someone's head. Hagiri's this time. However this interlude is both shorter and less complex than the other, after all, this is a human mind and not a few centuries old demon's. As with the last one, I'm not too sure how well this'll go over, but hope that you will enjoy it.

Please drop a review and thank you reviewers for the work you do! I love hearing from you.

**Chapter 15 The Second Interlude- The Gamemaster, the Sniper, and the Dark Man**

_In the gray city, the buildings rose faceless to the dark cloudy sky that was always on the brink of pouring rain down onto the sidewalks. It always rained in the gray city. Always._

_And among the streets, a figure ran, flickering between the shadows, dancing briefly through the lights, hard to see for more than a few moments as a flash of dark hair, a gleam of purple eyes, before they were gone._

**--**

_The gamemaster arrived in the gray city and promptly fell into a puddle. Somehow, he managed to keep one arm up so his controller didn't get wet. Good news. Bad news: the rest of him was still soaked._

_With a groan, he picked himself up off the road, brushing away dirt. _

_For the first time, he was able to take in the surroundings. The walls were graffitied, the gutters running with murky water, and thunder rumbled in the sky above._ "Weird,"_ he remarked and then he felt the first raindrop. Quickly the gamemaster looked up. _

_Raindrop to the eye as a result._

"Ow!"_ he said automatically, and scrubbed at the eye._

_And it was then the person came from nowhere, grabbing his wrist. "You fool, run!"_

_Suddenly the gamemaster was running, or rather, being pulled, behind someone. Dark hair gleamed briefly as they passed one of the few streetlights._

"Hagiri?"_ the gamemaster asked, panting as he tried to keep up._

_Briefly the runner glanced back at him and the gamemaster saw the light glint off purple eyes. "What the _hell_ are you doing here Amanuma?"_

"You're dying! I was trying to help and—"_ he stumbled over a curb. _"Ow! Why are we running?"

_Again the sniper glanced back at him, but this time his look asked if the other was an idiot or not. "Because if we don't run, we'll get caught."_

"Caught by what?"

_"If I knew exactly what, do you think I'd be running? I'd be killing it!"_

"What is it?"

_"You ask a lot of questions Amanuma. Some black man, I don't know, I only saw him for a moment before I ran. Here, this way," he yanked the gamemaster down an alley then pulled to a halt. "we're probably alright here for a few minutes. Now, explain to me again why you're rooting around in my head."_

"You're bleeding your guts out and wouldn't wake up. I hacked you." _The gamemaster held up his controller. _"But I never did anything like this before! I must have gone a little deeper than I meant to. Umm…sorry. Usually I just hear the voice of the other person in my head."

_"I don't really mind, but my brain isn't a good one to be in at the moment. It's dangerous for you to be here." The sniper cautiously watched the alley mouths, his eyes flickering nervously from side to side._

_The gamemaster grabbed his arm. _"You didn't say what makes it so dangerous! What is the black man you're running from? Maybe I can help or something."

_The sniper irritably pulled his sleeve from his grip. "Probably it's better you don't know. Besides, I always run, that's the only way to never get caught."_

"Caught by _who_?"

_"Spirit World, Sensui, cops, gangs, the dark man… everyone!"_

_A crackle of thunder broke the air and the alley was illuminated briefly by the following flicker of lightning. The storm was there._

_"Uh-uh, he's close. Come on!" The sniper grabbed the gamemaster by the wrist again and they were running once more._

_Through the bleak streets, through the wet puddles, through the sheeting rain._

_Then the sniper skidded to a halt so abruptly the gamemaster almost knocked into him. A tall man blocked the street ahead, a man who was black from head to toe. In a slow movement the dark man pointed at the sniper._

"You."_ he said simply. _"I was looking for you."

"Is that the black man?"_ the gamemaster whispered to the sniper._

_"Yeah…that's him," replied the sniper as he carefully, and without taking his eyes from the dark man, moved to shelter the gamemaster from the dark man's line of view._

_Ebony, for it was Ebony standing so imposingly in the street, spoke once more. _"I have given you free reign up until this point. Now it is time to change that."

"Who do you think you are?!"_ demanded the gamemaster boldly, although he was still half behind the sniper. _"You can't just waltz into someone's mind and set up shop, that's—"

He stopped when the sniper reached back and put an urgent hand on his shoulder. "Amanuma," he said quietly. "run. Right now."

"But—"

_"Go!" he pushed him back and the gamemaster staggered back. He was about to protest, very vehemently indeed, but he was off balance and fell. His controller knocked hard against the street. It broke._

_And with his focus gone, the gamemaster was swept out of the mind. As he was swept back to the real world, the gamemaster saw the sniper turn to run again, but the dark man struck him so hard over the back of the head with a fist, the sniper didn't get more than a step away._

_He slumped onto the concrete._

_But the gamemaster was gone and couldn't do anything._

**--**

_The dark man gestures and the gray city grows grayer and the rain falls harder than ever onto the streets…_

On the outside, Ebony cracked Amanuma's skull against the floor.

Then, Ebony, using Hagiri's eyes, looked around the room. Painfully, one hand held to his stomach, he limped to a nearby door. Sliding it open, he found that it was a storage room containing things such as extra pallets and blankets. He pulled half of them out then grabbed Amanuma's feet and with some effort was able to bundle the unconscious boy into the closet.

That done, Ebony replaced the other blankets, hiding Amanuma's body from view. Then he shut the door and slumped against it as if he had merely chosen a different place to sit.

When Mitari and Doctor exploded into the room, they never suspected what had just happened.

"Can you do anything?" demanded Mitari as Doctor knelt to examine Hagiri. His voice was slightly hysterical.

"Mitari," Kamiya snapped, his hands already at work. "out. This is bad and I need to concentrate without someone hyperventilating in my ear."

Seeing sense in the request and knowing that this was not the time to stand around arguing points, Mitari left.

And though the wounds were nasty and he had to almost reform several internal organs, about twenty minutes of hard work later Doctor wiped the sweat from his forehead, smearing a red line across it, satisfied that he had done good work. Hagiri would live.

Then Doctor said, "So, you care to tell me who that is sharing space in your head, Hagiri?"

And he noticed the other psychic had a glint in his eyes that should have warned Kamiya to run right then and there.

But sadly before Kamiya could, Hagiri struck.

**"The very worst assassins are the ones that get on the inside. They're right next to you, your best friend, then suddenly there's a knife in your ribs and there they are smiling with your blood on their hands. And you never saw it coming… you never do with those types."**

**(Anonymous)**

**TBC**


	16. Talented Deceptions

**Seeker**

Dane Soar

A reviewer made two very goods recently. Firstly, in the first chapter I did call the Shinobi by Sensui's name Shinobu, my computer spell checker must have gotten confused between the two. Sorry about that.

And they also pointed out that while Karasu is one scary demon, out heroes have surely gotten more powerful since the Dark Tournament. I'm glad someone caught me on that. There's a reason for it, but hopefully that'll come out in the fullness of time.

Thanks for reading this exceedingly long chapter, sorry for my complete inability to do Jin's accent and please review on your way out! I means a lot to me as always.

**Chapter 16 Talented Deceptions**

**Somewhere**

_"Umm, hello? Anyone out there?"_

_"Oi, company!  
"Who was that?"_

_"This is me, 'ho else you think it'd be?"_

_"But who is the 'me'"_

_"My name's Jin, old boy, an' you'd be?"_

_"Jin? Is that really you? This is Kurama… or at least, I think it is. It's so dark, I didn't recognize you. What on earth are you doing here?"_

_"Actually, I don't ah, know why I'm still here, but I think it's a place that holds energy,"_

_"Energy? Wait, you mean I'm not in my body? If that is the case then what's this doing the talking?"_

_"Everythin' about you that's not a body. Guess you could say we're souls."_

_"Oh… I suppose that explains why Ebony isn't still in my mind, if I'm not in it myself. I hope Karasu isn't the one with my body. That thought it more than a little creepy."_

_"So do yea know the reason my old buddy Toya isn't in here gettin' me out? 'Cause I was sure he'd be in here an' bustin' me out real quick."_

"I'm not quite sure, but how about you tell me what you know and I'll tell you what I know. That sound like a fair deal?"

**Genkai's Temple**

Out of a lack of anywhere else to be at the moment, Kuwabara and Twilight were sitting on the porch eating. They weren't seeing what was wrong with Kurama, weren't trying to keep Hagiri from dying, or even cooking. There were other people already fully occupied in doing those things, they were simply the ones left with nothing to really to do.

"Damn, this is good food," said Twilight chopsticks in hand. "Yusuke is lucky to have a cook like this for a wife."

"Yeah, he is," Kuwabara said.

There was a somewhat uncomfortable truce between the two. They formerly knew or trusted each other very little, but after fighting side by side in a loosing battle those sort of issues tended to seem somewhat unimportant.

"So I thought you had some sort of crisis you had to go to?" Kuwabara commented, passing a dumpling from hand to hand before taking about bite out of it. "I mean, you're back awfully soon for the kind of disaster you said it was,"

"It was nasty," she shrugged. "but once I got there, all I had to do was create some mass disruption in the right place and poof, evil demons gone. Or dead. Whichever."

"Still, that was kind of fast." Kuwabara said.

Again Twilight shrugged. "I have underlings so all I really had to do was deal with the immediate problem. Usually I'd help with the aftermath and cleanup, but this time I left them to it so I could come back here and see how things turned out for all of you,"

"Nice of you to worry," remarked Kuwabara, scarping down a piece of chicken with some enthusiasm.

"Yeah well, I know Kurama too. And um… could I… ah, ask you a personal question about Yusuke?"

He looked at her oddly. "Sure, I guess."

"When did Yusuke die?"

Kuwabara chocked on the eggroll he'd just bitten into. "How the hell did you know that?"

"I recognized it in his aura, if you know what to look for you can spot it pretty easy."

"Well, he was fourteen when he got hit by the car."

"Oh," Twilight seemed to ponder this for a moment. "and he died to get his job?"

"Sort of, I suppose, though it was more like Yusuke got the job _after_ he died." He regarded her. "Did you…err die?"

"Yeah,"

"How old were you?"

"Three."

"What?!" he dropped the remains of his eggroll into his lap and had to hastily retrieve it. "You started killing demons when you were _three_?"

"Pretty much, but it's not like I was on my own. I had my underlings to help me, and a teacher at first, before he got killed."

"Huh, you've been a…" Kuwabara couldn't remember the title for the American version. "whatever you call it for longer than Yusuke ever did. He got fired pretty fast."

"That's another thing that is a bit odd about how you people do it. You _can_ get fired."

"And you can't?"

"Not until I die." She made a face. "Which might be soon, or in a decade. Who knows? Some of my predecessors only served a handful a years."

"Retiring or getting fired sounds better." Kuwabara said firmly.

"I suppose it would, but don't tell me you don't miss it every once and a while,"

"Miss what?"

"The life. You know, living on the edge, killing evildoers left and right, and maybe surviving to tell the tale afterwards. All that."

"Sometimes," Kuwabara sighed. "sometimes,"

**--**

Hagiri very cautiously opened the door to the hall, making sure that no one was in sight. When he found he was alone he disappeared briefly back into the room, only to emerge dragging something quickly into the garden.

It was a shame that right after healing him, Kamiya had looked up at him and said: "So, you care to tell me who that is sharing space in your head, Hagiri?"

And it _had_ been unfortunate what he'd had to do, but there was nothing for it, Ebony needed to maintain his cover.

He pulled the thing wrapped blankets behind a pine tree, which hid him from the casual passerby with its low sweeping limbs, and stopped to catch his breath. It had been a good healing that the doctor psychic had done, but the body was still weary from the stress of the wounds. Ebony could only force it so much before he had to rest.

Next to him, a bloodstain was appearing on the blankets of the bundle as it soaked through the layers.

Carefully, Ebony lifted the corner of the blanket to check underneath. The blank eyes of Kamiya looked up at him.

It had been _necessary_, unavoidable, he couldn't have Doctor talking and according to the memories of his host, it was next to impossible to knock him out. So he'd taken swift action with the knife that Hagiri had on him.

The man wouldn't talk with a slit throat.

There had been a little part of his host's mind that he didn't completely control that had resisted very hard at that point, banging its ghostly fists on the walls of imprisonment. But that was no matter, it was easily ignored.

Luckily for Ebony it was impossible to distinguish Kamiya's blood from Hagiri's that was all over the floor already, so no one should suspect anything.

Unluckily for him the closet already had a body in it, though it was doubtful that Amanuma was dead, so he had no place to conceal this one. Such were the issues of covert assassination.

With a sigh, Ebony dropped the blanket back in place. Now he had to find someplace for this one. Maybe he could bury it? No, that wouldn't work. Most of the people in the temple were busy with other things, but surely someone would notice that.

He peered out from behind the tree and examined every bit of the temple he could see. There was the door he had come from and next to that was a considerably smaller one. Standing, Ebony crept over to the door, slid it open and found that it was a closet, of the type to conveniently contain brooms and mops and the like.

And closets had served him quite well recently. After a moment's consideration, he nodded decisively and quickly dragged the body to the closet.

The possessed Hagiri was just closing the door once more when a voice hailed him. "Hey, you!"

He jumped, then turned.

It was Botan. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you; but you don't look very well. Are you sure you're supposed to be moving around? I thought you were hurt."

"Oh, I um…" Ebony mentally shook his head, he hadn't been discovered, it was just jumpiness, but he would attract a lot of suspicion in he didn't pull himself together. "I was healed," he explained. His stomach growled very loudly and Ebony seized the opportunity. "I was just looking for the kitchen, I don't remember where it was though." He looked at Botan hopefully.

And, unsuspecting, Botan pointed him in the right direction before leaving.

She might have wondered why Hagiri was smiling, but she didn't ask, even though it was the same smile as would grace a cat who has just eaten the canary from right under it's owner's nose.

**--**

Every few minutes Botan made sure to check on Yusuke and Hiei, to see if there was any change, but, she saw as she glanced in the room, there wasn't any. Hiei still sat in the corner, arms crossed, Jagan open and glowing, Yusuke was still sitting cross-legged, his hands braced on his knees and his eyes closed. Someone who didn't know what they were doing could have thought that there were three sleeping people in the room, not one.

Botan closed the door and settled onto the floor, she was the only one who knew what was going on here, and if things went wrong and Hiei couldn't pull Yusuke's mind out then she'd have to do something, limited healing power reserves or not.

**--**

Quite a few people were getting antsy. And not just Kotori and Toya. At least those two had something to do, some goal to work toward. Most others weren't so lucky.

"This is going to drive me _insane_," Mitari said to himself. He was laying on his back on one of the porches around the temple, not really napping, but resting his eyelids.

"Ow!" said someone, as they stumbled over him. Mitari rubbed his head and sat up. "Sorry, didn't see you lying down there," Ricky said, Mengii peering out from behind her.

"It's okay, not your fault."

"You look bored out of your mind, nothing to do?"

He shook his head. "Not a thing at all. Where were you two going?"

"Heading back to New York," Mengii explained. "I have something I want to pick up at work, and while we're over there I told Kuwabara I'd keep an ear out for rumors about Goki."

"Can I go with you?" Mitari asked, eager at once to have something to do.

"Why not?" shrugged Ricky. "One more person along isn't going to kill us."

"Great!" the psychic scrambled upright and followed the two women across the temple grounds. "By the way," he said, fishing in his pocket. "I found this in Hagiri's pocket when I was looking for his cell phone," he held up a pair of keys.

"What are those for?" asked Ricky.

"I think they're to his bike. And it gets even better,"

"Oh, really?" Mengii raised an interested eyebrow. "Do you know were he'd be keeping it?"

"Uh-huh. And I know how to ride it. Hagiri taught me, during the Chapter Black thing,"

They had reached the head of the stairs that led down from the temple.

Ricky looked critically at him. "The police officer in me makes me ask… I don't suppose you have a motorcycle license?"

Mitari laughed. "After all that I've done today, the last thing I care about is the law!"

**America**

**New York**

**Fifteen Minutes Later**

The three had a bit of trouble in the portal jump, on the Makai side. So far all the groups running back and forth had been lucky in that there had never been very many demons waiting at the portal the led back to the human world.

Their luck ran out.

Not only was there a queue, but it was also completely full of demons, not a single human psychic there to help them out.

It could have gone very badly for them if Mitari hadn't knocked most of the demons off their feet with one of his water beasts. They'd run for the portal while everyone was still stunned and had just had time to get it connected to the right spot and jump through before a demon shook off the surprise, relieved to have survived.

When they were once more in America, they had to deal with the lynx demon that was the head of the Dojo they had to pass through and his claims that "His portal wasn't Grand Central, godsdamnit!" It took Mengii a few minutes to pacify him, then they were able to figure out were they wanted to go.

In the end Ricky agreed to go into the station to pick up something for Mengii while Mitari and Mengii headed for were Hagiri's bike was.

Creeping cautiously into the station, Ricky prayed that she didn't get recognized. Right now she was technically AWOL and had resolved to deal with that crisis _later_.

Rescue partner first, salvage career later.

It was too easy to blend with the usual crowd in the station, Ricky was waiting for the catch. This was a police station, surely it had better security than this!

But have the right manner, don't look too nervous, don't stand out, and people sort of wrote you into the background with their minds and their eyes went right over you. Another skill that Ricky had never used before. Then again, it was turning into a couple day's worth of firsts.

For now, she was just glad not to be noticed.

Only as she was digging in Mengii's desk drawer for the envelope she'd asked her to get, she was finally seen.

Someone patted her on the shoulder. "Ricky, good to see you at work again!"

She jumped about a mile.

Alan Griffin held both hands up. "Sorry! I guess you didn't hear me walk up."

"Yeah," Ricky laughed nervously. "I was paying attention. Not your fault," her hand was just touching the envelope and she tried to casually pick it up.

But Griffin noticed it anyway. "Isn't that Montes' desk? Why were you looking in there?"

"Well, um, Mengii asked me to pick something up for her," which wasn't exactly a lie at all.

"Strange, she hasn't been around lately," he eyed her. "nor Chi, now that I think about it. What's up with all the missing detectives?"

"No idea. Umm, none at all. Oh, hello, Ringer." Ricky greeted Griffin's partner.

"Good, you're in," Ringer smiled at her. "you'd love to have the case we're on. It's just plain bizarre."

Griffin nodded. "Yeah, mass comas! And random groups of people too, the FBI's looking interested." He lowered his voice. "They're thinking terrorism."

"They always think that," pointed out Ricky. But she was thinking internally what a soulless person must look like to someone who didn't know anything about the situation. A lot like a coma victim.

In her brain one thought kicked another and fired off a suspicion. Maybe Ricky wasn't the brightest person, but even she could see a lead when it was thrown at her.

Still clutching the envelope, she sat in the chair at Mengii's desk. "But that sounds like a strange case. Are you allowed to tell me anymore about it, or are you not supposed to gossip?"

**--**

In a different part of the city, Mengii and Mitari were in a bar.

"This place is a little scary," Mitari said hesitantly, passing a soda nervously from damp palm to damp palm. The room was dimly lit, in the fashion of many bars, but music pulsed from hidden speakers and he was rubbing shoulders with a multitude of demons and psychics. All these coming and going auras of power scraping against his nerves was making him edgy.

"It's not actually as bad as it seems at first glance," said Mengii, sipping from her water. The bartender had given them both strange looks when they ordered, and thrown off a few annoyed sparks, but didn't comment. She pointed upward. "Anti-violence wards. So much as think a violent thought in here and the ward tosses you back out into the alley. Really the Root Cellar is more bark than bite. You've honestly never been here?"

He shook his head. "No, Hagiri just mentioned he paid the bartender to keep his bike around back when he was in New York. But I didn't think it'd be so crowded here,"

"It's a popular place. By the way, why are you so determined to get this bike? It's not like we need it."

Mitari shifted uncomfortably. "I just think we need to take advantage of all the resources we have. Besides, this is a bar right? Maybe we can pick up something on Goki while we're here, who knows?"

"I guess you're right." said Mengii, then she drained the last of her water. "And we're in luck, I actually know the bartender here. This is a nice place to go when you want to let your hair down. So let's see if he still has the bike," she waved to get the bartender's attention, and politely held up her empty glass.

The bartender made an annoyed sound and came over to were they were.

When Mitari had first seen him, he'd been surprised to find that there really _was_ someone shorter than Hiei. The dark skin and the light colored hair were a strange mix, but with demons, anything was possible. The bartender raised an eyebrow as if to say, "Well?"

"A refill of water for me, and my friend here has something he wants to ask you." Mengii nodded at Mitari to go on.

"Um, a friend of mine, he said," Mitari began hesitantly. "said he asked you to keep his bike for him. Do you still have it?"

After regarding him for a moment, the bartender took up a pen, scribbled on a drink napkin then passed it over to him, along with a key.

Inspecting it, Mitari saw he'd been handed directions to a shed just outside, which explained the key.

"Also," Mengii accepted another water from the bartender gratefully. "oh, thank you. Anyway, we're not only here for the bike, we're looking for someone."

The look the bartender gave her said he was listening, but didn't see why he should care.

And Mengii seemed to read his mind. "You should care because this demon likes to eat souls. Imagine the chaos that could cause in a city like this. There's so many people there's likely to be casualties left and right!"

For the first time, the bartender spoke. "Green?" he asked, tapping a finger against his own cheek.

Mitari blinked in surprise. "Yeah, Goki has green skin. Why do you ask?"

Mutely, the bartender pointed over both their shoulders.

The two psychics turned and following the line his finger, seeing that he pointed to a far corner of the bar…

…were Goki was standing, clutching a beer.

"Oh-oh!" Mengii quickly stood, but it was too late, Goki had already caught sight of them, dropped his drink, and run.

In a moment, both of them were after him.

Just as Mengii cleared the door of the bar, or more specifically, cleared the anti-violence wards, Goki attacked. The demon swung the orb at her head with more force than was actually necessary.

She fell, soulless, in front of Mitari as Goki fled once again.

**--**

Knowing that it was the first place that Mengii and Mitari were heading, Ricky was making a beeline for the bar called the Root Cellar, clutching the bulky envelope and running the information she'd managed to get from her work partners through her head again and again so she wouldn't forget details.

She was more than a little surprised to see a large horned demon bolting from the alley the bar was supposed to be down.

"He seems to be in a hurry," she commented mildly, watching the green demon run past.

Only when she spotted Mitari running flat out for her, did she put the description of Goki against the appearance of the demon that had just passed her.

"Oh crap," Ricky wheeled around, but it was too late, Goki was gone.

"Which way?" demanded Mitari, coming level with her and bracing his hands on his knees to catch his breath.

"I didn't see,"

"Damn!" Mitari swore vehemently. "Damn, damn _damn_! He got Mengii and now he's gotten away again!"

"Where's Mengii?" Ricky demanded.

"Back in front of the bar. Wait, I know!" before Ricky could ask him what he meant, Mitari ran back down the alley.

He returned moments later, wheeling a motorcycle. "I can catch him with this!"

"But you don't know where Goki's gone!"

"Is that the thing Mengii wanted you to get?" Mitari pointed at the envelope.

"Yeah, but—hey!"

Mitari grabbed the envelope and tore off the top. He took out what appeared on first glance to be a compass, the old fashioned thick type, but the needle meandered around airlessly.

Both stared at it for a moment, remembering what Mengii had told them about it.

_"You see, it was something I was tinkering with, but this device I was working on, it's for finding people easily. I'm not sure if I've got it quite right, it's was only an experiment, but if it works correctly, all you need is to be able to picture the one in question to give the compass something to lock on. It was supposed to be much more convenient than the old kind of tracker when you need to be near the person or have a part of them. I thought it might come in handy."_

With a grim expression Mitari fisted a hand around the compass and focused on the image of Goki. When he opened his hand the needle pointed firmly in one direction.

"It works…" Ricky said, reverently. "she should have had a little more faith in her craftsmanship."

In response, Mitari swung onto the bike and started it.

She grabbed his arm. "Wait, Mitari, don't be stupid! We'll go back and get reinforcements. Then we can catch him easy, but if you go in alone, you'll never get him!"

"He got my teacher, Ricky," Mitari's eyes were steely. "my _teacher_. This is the last straw. I'll _kill_ him… just do me a favor and tell Yusuke and the others what happened."

"But Mitari—" she tried to hold him back.

Shaking her off, Mitari revved the engine again, and was gone.

**Genkai's Temple**

Ebony felt a familiar smile tugging at the corners of his lips as he left hurried with the boxes in hand, that same cat-ate-canary-and-got-away-with-it-smile, but hid it as he saw the others.

"Kuwabara!" he yelled after the retreating group.

They paused Kuwabara and Sai looking back surprised while Kotori and Toya merely appeared annoyed at yet another delay.

"I thought you were dying," Kuwabara said, as what anyone would have mistaken for Hagiri caught up with them. "Mitari got Doctor in time then?"

He nodded.

"Where is this Doctor guy, I didn't see him around," commented Sai.

With a shrug Ebony replied. "I don't know, I woke up healed and alone. Kamiya must have left already."

"That sounds like Doctor," Kuwabara shook his head. "he probably heard the new Spirit Detective was here and didn't want Spirit World getting their hands on him. Anyway, you wanted something Hagiri?"

"I was just in the kitchens and Kayko gave these to me for you four," Ebony held up wrapped bento boxes. "she said that you' d probably need food on your search."

"Thanks," Kuwabara accepted the boxes eagerly. "more of Kayko's food, can it get any better?"

Farther down the grass, Kotori made an inpatient noise.

"Well, I'd better get going or they'll leave without me," said Kuwabara. "I wanted to wait until I could see how Kurama's doing and talk to Urameshi before we left but I can't stall them anymore," he started to leave, but Hagiri caught his elbow.

"Before you go, I was curious, what did we end up doing with Ivory's body?"

"Oh, that assassin? Don't you remember, Hiei incinerated her. The ashes are probably still somewhere in the lawn. Why do you ask?"

For a moment an expression passed over Hagiri's face that made the little hairs on the back of Kuwabara's neck stand up and Hagiri's hand tightened uncomfortably on his arm. Then the expression was gone and Hagiri shrugged again. "Even an assassin deserves a decent burial I suppose. I forgot about the ash part though. Well, good luck in your Goki search," he let go of Kuwabara's arm.

"Okay then… thanks for the bentos," replied the other psychic, rubbing his arm. "…see you later," and, casting a slightly wary look back at Hagiri, he jogged to joined the others.

Watching them leave Ebony finally let the smile surface finally. "Actually, I doubt very much that I will see you again Kuwabara."

That closet full of mops and brooms, and cleaning fluids had been useful in more than one way.

For a moment, Ebony swayed, a face with purple eyes glinting with rage flashing across his sight, rain splattered streets and gray buildings engulfing him for a moment.

Then it vanished, leaving a shaken Ebony with whispered words ringing in his ears over and over in voice that did not belong to the demon.

_"…I'm not going to stand by quietly... you'll _pay_ for what you've done…"_

**

* * *

**

"**Why does it feel like night today?**

**Something in here's not right today**

**Why I am I so uptight today?**

**Paranoia's all I got left.**

**I don't know what stressed me first, **

**Or how the pressure was fed.**

**But I know just what it feels like,**

**To have a voice in the back of my head.**

**Like a face that I hold inside,**

**A face that waits when I close my eyes,**

**A face that watches every time that I lie,**

**A face that laughs every time I fall,**

_**It watches everything.**_

**So I've no doubt when it's time to sink or swim,**

**The face inside is hearin' me, **

**Right beneath my skin."**

**(Papercut, Linkin' Park)**

**TBC**


	17. Time To Move

**Seeker **

Dane Soar

This chapter is insanely hyperactive in it's scene jumping, I hope it is followable. Thank you reviewers! And thank you wonderful editor!  
The forematting for the site has suddnly gone crazy, please forgive the tecnical errors.

**--**

**Chapter 17 Time To Move**

**Somewhere…**

**--**

_"Oi, more company!"_

_"You're right, Jin, I hope it's not going to get crowed in here. By the way, I've been meaning to ask, why aren't we talking with any of the others in this orb?"_

_"Yeah, I wondered 'bout that too. I think it's 'cause we're the stronger souls in 'ere. We sort of overpower all the rest, if you catch my drift."_

_"I see,"_

_"Ummm, excuse me?"_

_"Is that Mengii?"_

_"Kurama?"_

_"The same,"_

_"'nd don't forget me!"_

_"Who's that?"_

_"This is all so difficult without bodies. Mengii, meet Jin, Jin, Mengii. Your voice is a bit muffled Mengii, are you quite alright?"_

_"I think I'm okay, you guys are just a bit… strong. Think you could tone it down a little?"_

_"Sorry 'bout that old girl. Can't help bein' a demon."_

"_Wait, Mengii, if you just got your soul taken, you must know what is going on outside. Could you fill us in on the situation?"_

_"I can, but it's going take a while…"_

**--**

**America**

**--**

The silver streak flashed across the rooftops and laughed with the pure delight of having a strong body once more. Nimbly it navigated the buildings, tumbling, jumping, spinning through the air.

Kami grinned at the feeling of wind in her face and through her hair.

Now, were to go and what to do?

This body still had some residual memories in it, perhaps those were worth following. It would be interesting to see where this led her.

**--**

**Somewhere…**

**--**

Goki ran and ran and _ran_.

He ran as fast as he could and hid as deeply as possible.

Because he knew that there would be people after him.

And they would not be very nice when they caught up.

**--**

**Genkai's Temple**

**--**

With a jerk of strained tendons, Yusuke sat up. Various muscles in his body were reminding him loudly that he'd been sitting in the same position for several hours on end. But he needed to get up, as hard as it would be right now.

Hopefully Kotori and Sai, and no doubt Toya too, wouldn't have dashed off after Goki yet. He had to tell them how important it was and possibly go with them.

After some effort he worked enough pins and needles out of his legs to stagger to his feet.

"Damnit," growled Hiei from the corner were he was clutching his Jagan. "you had to take forever, moron!"

Yusuke paused. "You okay?"

"Backlash," he said. "just a damn headache,"

Which was sufficient explanation for Yusuke. He had places to be and people to warn.

Botan was suddenly rising from the corner where she'd just been startled out of her sleep, steadying him when he staggered again. "Where do you need to go?"

"Outside," he replied, shaking her off and tearing the door open, falling out into the hallway. It might not have been the most graceful run, but Yusuke made it out onto the lawn.

With a sinking feeling he scanned the yard and didn't see any of the three he was waiting for. Where were they? But he did notice Hagiri, who appeared to be alternately peering at the ground minutely and pressing a hand occasionally to his forehead.

At least he could ask him where to find Kotori and Toya. Hurrying up to him, Yusuke asked. "Hey, where's the guys that were going after Goki?"

Hagiri jumped about a foot in the air and came down glaring at Yusuke. "You could _warn_ someone before you sneak up on them!"

He held up his hands in a pacifying gesture. "Okay, okay, sorry. But do you know?"

"Yeah, I do," Hagiri said sourly. "They already left."

"When?" demanded Yusuke.

"About an hour ago, why?"

"Shit!" he swore. "Maybe I can catch up with them. They were looking in the America first, right?"

"I guess; I think some others went before them, but I don't know who." But the possessed Hagiri was talking to air, Yusuke was already halfway down the temple steps.

Rolling his eyes, Ebony returned to his search for a certain bit of ash that was supposed to be in this grass somewhere.

When Botan came up to him a moment later, asking where Yusuke had gone, she found Ebony kneeling, reverently scooping up cinders in his hands. "He's gone after the Goki searchers," he told her.

"What are you doing?" she asked curiously.

"Nothing," Hagiri replied, then put one palm abruptly to his forehead as if in sudden pain, dropping some ash in the process.  
"Are you alright?" Botan said moving forward to put a healing hand on his shoulder. Surely what power she had recovered would be enough?

But strangely enough, Hagiri jumped back from her touch. "I'm fine. Perfectly…" he winced. "…perfectly fine."

"You look pale are you su—"

"Yes!" and even Hagiri appeared to be startled at how loud his response was. Turning abruptly, he hurried off the remaining ash held tightly.

A very perplexed Botan looked after him. That was wildly uncharacteristic behavior for Hagiri. Well, she had to consider that they were all under a lot of stress at the moment, that sort of thing could bring out the worst in some people.

Still, it was strange.

**--**

Yusuke bolted down the stairs, taking them recklessly ten or fifteen at a time. He was going so fast he didn't notice that someone was sitting on the very bottom step. But when a pike shaft tripped him, halting his forward progress, he fell right onto his face. That was the kind of thing that tended to get ones attention.

"Off somewhere in a hurry?" Twilight said sardonically.

Sitting up and making sure his nose was still in the same place Yusuke glared at her. "What the _hell_ was that for? And weren't you at some disaster or other?"

"It's dealt with already. Where were you going?

"After Toya and Kotori, they need to know something." He scrambled back to his feet.

"They're long gone."

"I know, that's why I have to hurry."

She shook her head. "I'm not a tactician by anyone's standards, but even I can see that'd be a bad idea."

"I'm in a hurry!"

"Look," Twilight lent forward urgently. "there's already more than seven people running around in America, unorganized and probably getting themselves into all kinds of trouble. And if you barrel over there how are you going to find them?"

"Seven? I thought only three were going after Goki," Yusuke frowned, squatting.

"Some people went ahead to gather info, Mengii, Ricky, and Mitari, then Toya, Kotori, Sai, and Kuwabara left just a little ago. That makes seven. Anyway, dashing in without a plan won't let you find them. You're a friend of Kuwabara's right? Just call him."

Yusuke blinked. "Oh… yeah. I forgot that." He took his cell phone out.

It rang twice, then Kuwabara picked up, sounding annoyed. "Yeah? This had better be good."

"This is Yusuke. Where are you? It's important."

There was a pause. "We're at the Dojo, where the portal is. What is it?"

"Did you get Goki?"

Kuwabara sounded a little more annoyed. "We haven't even started tracking him. There's a bit of a hold up."

"What happened?"

"Goki stole Mengii's soul, Ricky's hysterical, she says she dragged Mengii… here on her own because Mitari ran off after Goki with… we don't know how he got it,"

"Damn, that is bad. Wait, what are those pauses?"

"What…?"

Yusuke frowned at his phone. "You're breaking up,"

"…oh sh… forgot to… the battery… running out…" periods of random silence made it hard to tell what Kuwabara was saying but Yusuke got the general idea.

"Wait, before you loose the signal! Goki stole Kurama's soul too, you need to find him as soon as possible!"

But all he heard was static.

On the other side of the ocean Kuwabara looked at his phone and hoped whatever Yusuke was going to tell him before his battery died wasn't too important, because he hadn't caught it.

Back in Japan, Yusuke put his phone away.

"Well?" Twilight asked.

"Goki took Mengii's soul and Mitari's going after him," explained Yusuke.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm still going back there,"

"Why?" she asked.

"Because I think we left Youko laying on the warehouse floor," he made face. "I'm an idiot. Are you going to stick around?"

"I'll go with you if that's not a problem," she said, rising to her feet.

As they left, Kayko was just coming to the top of the steps. She looked down at the retreating figures. "There he goes again," she muttered. "if it keeps going on like this, by the time I get around to telling him the baby will be born already!"

**--**

**America**

**Road**

**--**

Feeling the blast of wind against his cheeks, Mitari checked Mengii's compass for the hundredth time. He'd wedged it on the bike between two dials, so that he didn't have to hold it. To tell the truth, this was good because he didn't remember how to ride quite as well as he'd thought.

It had been years since he'd ridden a motorcycle, but it was like riding a bicycle. Something in you never quite forgot how to do it.

But the traffic in New York wasn't exactly conducive to chasing a running fugitive demon. After the first impatient moments he spent waiting in the gird-locked traffic, he did something that he'd never do under other circumstances. He took a sharp turn out of traffic and rode straight onto the sidewalk. People screamed and dove out of his way but he paid no attention to the chaos he was creating.

For a long time Mitari had always been something of a observer in his life, bullied by his classmates, serving under Sensui, knocked out in the cave fight, away tracking down soul halves in that disaster two years ago, he never seemed to take action on his own.

Well, this was a cause worth doing, whatever it took to accomplish. He had to get his teacher's soul back. No matter what!

Goki was giving Mengii's compass a run for it's money, but Mitari would soon catch him.

And when he did…

**--**

**Warehouse**

**--**

Ever left something somewhere, walked away then come back a short time later to find it gone? There is a distinctive sinking feeling that you get in the pit of your stomach when your hand rests on the empty space that is the same every time, no matter the object.

Yusuke was feeling that feeling right now, as he rested his hand on the bare warehouse floor. "Damn, I know I saw him right here! Just between these two piles of crates."

"Maybe they moved it," Twilight suggested, peering behind the crates. "I mean, if I was an evil demon with a thing for blowing up redheads, I wouldn't just leave him here. I'd want him somewhere safe."

"Yeah, but do you see Youko anywhere?"

Within moments they had searched every nook and cranny of the warehouse and come up with empty hands.

"By the way, are we talking about a live kitsune, or is this a shell?" Twilight asked. "Because if he's alive, he'd have probably run off by now, unless our mad bomber did something to him."

Yusuke shook his head. "It's just a body, I think. Most of Kurama is in Goki's orb, with a bit left in the body we have back at the Temple. So if it was here, it'd probably just be lying around."

"Do you smell that?" asked Twilight suddenly.

"What?" he sniffed. But now he smelled it too, a sickeningly sweet smell, like something rotting. It was faint though, and fading. "Yeah, I do. What is that?"

"I don't know, but it's old. Whatever left it hasn't been here for a while,"

"Wonder what it is,"

"Does it matter?"

Yusuke made a face. "Probably not. I think Karasu might be chasing Goki right now, so do you know anyone who would agree to take care of a body and that Karasu would ask to?"

"I have a few guesses." Twilight considered it for a moment. "It won't take two of us to check, you go back to your Temple and I'll take care of it."

"You serious?"

"I wouldn't offer otherwise,"

"Okay then, you're looking for a silver kitsune. White hair, gold eyes, ears, tail, you know. If you find him, try to get back to the Temple. Otherwise," he shrugged. "call me. Hopefully it'll go through."

"Deal." she said.

And they went their separate ways.

**--**

**Genkai's Temple**

**--**

The wear and tear of the Temple being the headquarters of the rescue Kurama group was starting to show. Scattered pieces of paper from the planning sessions, discarded bits of Mengii's communication equipment, and most importantly blood splatters all over the floor.

It was the last one that distressed Yukina. She was demon, it was true, and not unfamiliar with slight of blood, but she didn't like it all over the floors of her home.

The others who lived in the Temple were making themselves scarce, so she couldn't ask Chu or one of the others to help her in cleaning up. She was on her own.

Yukina sighed, standing in the doorway of the room the Hagiri was in. There was a healthy— or unhealthy depending on how one looked at it— splashing of red all over the wood floor. Here was as good a place to start as any other.

Armed with a mop and a brimming bucket of water Yukina attacked the stains on the floor with great enthusiasm with her skirts tucked up and out of the way.

About an hour's worth of cleanup work later she paused on hearing at a strange sound.

Was it her or had that closest just groaned?

**--**

Without Kuwabara there to instantly sense the disturbance in his wards around the Temple, no one noticed when Kami simply walked up the stairs. She emerged at the top and looked around the temple grounds with great interest. This body's memories had led her here, but what exactly was this place?

**--**

Inside the hall closet, blood wasn't leaking through the blankets anymore. A hand had fallen outside of the bundle and was lying against the closet floor.

One finger twitched.

Kamiya was very difficult to kill.

--

"**Always keep moving. You never know what's behind you!"**

**(Going Postal)**

**--**

**TBC…**


	18. Things Come Undone

Seeker

Dane Soar

I'm so sorry this is so late! The only plausible reason I can think of is that I've been _really_ busy. I also have a bit of bad news. **I'll be away for the rest of this month, possibly until August. Sadly this means no updates until then.** Sorry and please stick with me!

Chapter 18 **Things Come Undone**

**--**

**Genkai's Temple**

**--**

One would not think that Hiei was a patient person, but they would be very wrong. Hiei was a person who could sit for hours staring at one thing, waiting. That one thing right now was Kurama.

At least he was a pleasant thing to stare at. He shook his head. Strange thoughts could drift into a person's head. At least the backlash headache had worn off though.

Yusuke had dashed off not too long ago, yelling something about stopping the other groups from leaving. From what he had overheard while Yusuke was in Kurama's head, Hiei gathered that Kurama's soul had been stolen, but if Yusuke was dealing with the situation it probably couldn't be in better hands. That left him without anything better to do than sit here and sort out his thoughts.

Events had been happening too fast in the past few days for him to do more than react to the chaos; but now he was sure, when Kurama was finally back to normal, some things would have to change between the two of them. No more of this subtle tiptoeing-around-each-other type of relationship, time to just give in. It didn't matter that they had argued bitterly in the past. He was in lov— well, Hiei shuddered to even think that word, but it was undeniable.

But they'd wasted enough time by trying to give each other space, this abduction had shown that much to Hiei. At the moment it was looking like Kurama might not ever be back the way he be been before—

That rambling line of thought was interrupted quite abruptly when Kurama sat up. Turing to look over at Hiei he said; "Youko is here."

**--**

The timing had, for once, worked out well for Yusuke. He'd arrived back at the temple just as Kami arrived at the top of the stairs. The initial confusion; Yusuke wanted to know why Youko was walking around on his own and knew nothing about Kami, but that had been worked out in a few short sentences.

Now, ten minutes later, Yusuke, Botan, and Kami were all sitting around the table warily eyeing each other.

"I hope you know that's really creepy," Yusuke told Kami matter of factly. "you shouldn't just slip into someone else's body like it's another set of clothes."

Using Youko's shoulders, Kami shrugged. "It was convenient,"

"So you are the one who started all of this," Botan said, getting to the point. "I hate to say it, but technically as an employee of Spirit World, I'm supposed to arrest you on sight. Lord Koenma's orders."

"Are you?"

Botan looked uncomfortable. "Well, not right now, but I have to at some point or other,"

"Wait, I want to know something first," Yusuke interjected. "I've been wondering all this time Kami, why the hell did you bring a headcase like Karasu back to life?"

"Research," said Kami, as if that explained everything. Seeing the confused looks on the other two's faces she elaborated. "It is very difficult to bring back a high level demon with his power intact, very difficult indeed. I'll have you know I was a visionary!" Yusuke made what sounded suspiciously like a snort. "I've done more in my field of necromancy than any other psychic before me. And… though there were some setbacks, I consider Karasu a success."

"But he killed you!" Botan exclaimed.

Kami flapped a hand. "Oh, well, he did do that. That's one of the reasons I didn't say a _complete_ success."

"What's the other reason?" asked Yusuke. "You said it was one of the reasons."

"The other being that I didn't manage to actually finish my experiment."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that Karasu isn't exactly back in the realms of the living. I never had a chance to finish him. He blew up my labs before I could put the final touches on his body. Shame. I would have loved to see if I really could make that body self-sufficient."

"Do mean Karasu isn't actually alive again?" Yusuke demanded.

"Not technically, I suppose. He doesn't breathe properly like one of my resurrect-ives should, and no doubt his body is starting to give out. I wouldn't be surprised if he was starting to rot on the inside."

"So if we just left Karasu alone, are you saying he'd fall apart all on his own?"

"That's what I said a moment ago, please pay attention, boy," Kami glowered at Yusuke.

"But if you consider this is _Karasu_ we're talking about," Botan mused. "I doubt that while he can still move he'd just sit around. He probably would try to cause as much damage as he could while still can."

"Here's one thing I've been wondering," said Yusuke. "How did you get Karasu's body to bring him back? Suzaku's too for that matter, it must have been a pain."

"I didn't. I'm a necromancer, remember? Just because I put a dead soul back in a living body doesn't mean it's the original one."

"But Karasu looks like… well, like he should." Botan argued.

"That is because I am a master of my art," said Kami, humbly. "I can change the containing body to suit whatever the soul needs. It really is a fine art."

"I'll bet," muttered Yusuke.

The door slid open and Kayko came in with a tray on which was a teapot with cups. "I heard voices," she explained setting the tray on the table and beginning to pour tea. "I thought a conference might need something to drink… oh, I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?"

"Not really," said Yusuke accepting a teacup. "we were just finishing up." He patted the floor next to where he was sitting invitingly and grinned at her.

With a laugh Kayko seated herself next to her husband, but she gave Kami-in-Youko a strange look. "It's good to see you awake Kurama, but it's odd, I could have sworn I just saw you in the hallway."

"What!" Yusuke scrambled to his feet

The door rattled open, a pale Kurama, with Hiei right behind him, pointed at Kami. "_You_," he said. "I believe that is _mine_."

**--**

After returning to the Temple to bring the soulless Mengii back, Ricky was left at loose ends but didn't mind. The lifelong city dweller was taking the opportunity to appreciate nature firsthand, in the forests the surrounded the Temple. Though she was careful too not stray to far from the Temple, Ricky followed one of the little twisting paths that wound between the trees. She loved the silence of the mighty forest, only punctuated by the occasional rustle from some small animal or something.

An acorn hit Ricky on the back of the head.

She turned and saw that Hagiri had approached soundlessly and was standing on the path not far behind her.

"That hurt!" she complained.

"I thought you could shield now." He reached down and picked up a handful of acorns.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I'm any good at it," Ricky grumbled. "I don't really know how I did it in the first place."

"Well, it's kind of strange that you're walking alone out here in the woods."

She shrugged. "I don't get to see a lot of trees all together like this in the city, I thought I'd see as much as I could while there was some down time. What brings you out here?"

"I was just wondering why you chose to go walking alone, where no one else could see you. So I came to ask." There was a twitch of Hagiri's fingers and Ricky winced as an acorn bounced off her forehead.

"Hey, watch it!"

Another acorn hit her in the shoulder. It was flying faster than the first and really stung.

"What are you doing?"

There was something about the look in Hagiri's eye that gave Ricky little shivers down the back of her neck.

**--**

When the dust settled in the room, Kurama was standing where Youko had been, with a very bewildered woman who looked arrogant enough to call herself Kami standing next to him. Kurama had grabbed Youko and this had resulted as he reclaimed his other form and it forced the interloper out.

Botan reached out and grabbed Kami firmly by the shoulder. "Sorry, but you're under arrest." With the other hand she summoned her oar and marched the protesting necromancer out of the room.

Looking at the pale Kurama, Yusuke couldn't help but think; _He's just operating on reflex, there probably not much in there!_ And he was proven right when Kurama swayed, then his eyes rolled up into the back of his head. He would have hit his head hard on the floor if Hiei hadn't caught him.

"How did Youko get here?" he demanded of Yusuke.

"That ghost possessed him and showed up here. She's the necromancer who start—"

A scream made the entire room start.

"Was that Yukina?" Kayko asked.

**--**

Now Yukina was positive, this was the third time she'd heard it. The closet was _groaning_. That couldn't be right.

She reached out and opened to door. There was a hand sticking out from between the blankets. Cautiously she reached out to touch the hand. It was still warm.

Suddenly the hand locked around her wrist. Yukina couldn't help it, she screamed, reeling back.

She brought the hand with her. The person fell out from between the blankets. And it was someone Yukina recognized. It was Amanuma.

He was bleeding from a gash on the forehead, which made Yukina act, on ingrained instinct, putting her hands on the wound. She had recovered more than enough energy to heal this cut, and as she began she sensed the crack in his skull too. It would be fairly simple to mend that the damage it had caused, but what Yukina really wanted to know was how on earth he had ended up stuffed into a closet!

Yusuke burst into the room. "What happened?" he demanded.

**--**

By now Ricky was positive something was wrong with this entire situation. She threw up a hand to shield her face as a shower of twigs hit her. They stung.

"You really need to learn to shield better," Hagiri commented mildly. More things were beginning to rise into the air, sticks, rocks, acorns.

"What the hell are you doing?" she ducked a sizable rock that would have done a good amount of damage if it had hit her.

"What am I doing? Why Ricky, I'm just trying to help you,"

A stick the length of her forearm cut a gouge on her cheek. "_Ouch_! Help me, yeah right!"

"You should really practice your powers. Any decent psychic could get themselves out of this." The look in Hagiri's eyes was cold as he flicked a hand to direct another stone forward. "But I'm glad that you came out here all by yourself, this far from the temple, no one is going to hear you yell. This time I can be leisurely about this."

Backing away, Ricky frowned. "I'm going to go take a guess that—" she dove aside to avoid a vicious acorn that whistled as if flew by it was going so fast. "that you're not going to back off."

He laughed. "Very clever, Ricky. But then again, if you were clever you wouldn't be walking around alone."

A stone whacked Ricky in the side of her head and she reeled, the world lurching. There was no let up from the onslaught though, a thin sharp stick buried itself in her thigh, bringing her down on one knee. Another rock would have ended things right then and there if she hadn't dived forward.

On her stomach on the path, still dazed, Ricky realized something. _He's trying to kill me! He's honest-to-God trying to kill me!_ The surge of panic through her made her vision finally stop spinning and she scrambled to her feet, staggering a little from her hurt leg. _Somehow this guy has switched sides, I've got to get back to the others and away from him!_

He must have read something of her thoughts from her face because he said; "Don't even think about it. Before you go so much as three steps I can, and will, cut you down."

Reaching down she hissed in pain as she touched the thin stick in her leg. It would slow her down, perhaps fatally. But cautiously she still took a step to the left.

Hagiri's eyes narrowed. "Big mistake, you're about to regret—" then something strange happened, there was a flicker across the stronger psychic's face and he stopped mid sentence, wincing, putting a hand to his head.

That was when Ricky bolted. She hurled herself into the woods on the left side of the path. As fast as was possible with her wounded leg, Ricky scurried through the forest, twigs whipping at her face and branches catching at her clothes.

Behind her, Ebony, still clutching his head, saw her bolt. He flung out a hand, sending his forest missiles after her, but he was too slow and they only peppered off of the trees. Hagiri's intervention had spared the cop.

With a sigh of frustration he picked up the thing he'd dropped onto the path right before he had tried to kill the detective. It was a small bottle, Ebony had found it in the temple and emptied what it had in it into the gardens. He didn't care if he killed a few flowers, but he needed a container for the precious ashes.

Carefully cradling what he been able to salvage of Ivory's remains, Ebony took off after Ricky. If he had anything to do with it, she wouldn't get back to the others.

Damn that host of his! He was becoming incontinently rebellious. Maybe it would soon be time to find a new one.

**--**

Amanuma was stirring beneath Yukina's healing hands. His eyes flickered for a moment, then they were open. "…ugh…" he said.

Leaning over him Yusuke demanded. "Are you alright?"

"…feel horrible…" muttered Amanuma. And abruptly, as if he had just remembered something, he sat straight upright. Lots of lights danced in front of his vision.

"What's the matter?" Yukina asked.

With the abruptness that surprised her and Yusuke, Amanuma's hand shot out and grabbed a part of Yusuke's shirt. "Hagiri's in trouble!" he said as quickly as possible. "Ebony's in his head!"

"Was it him that did this to you?" demanded Yusuke. Something swam up from the depths of his memory and waved frantically at him to get his attention. It was something Kurama had said, about why the inside of his head was such a mess. He had said that the other assassin from the pair Karasu hired, that Ebony, the one that could possess people. He'd been thrown out of Kurama's head though and…

_How could I be so _stupid_?_ Yusuke thought as the pieces came together with a humongous _click_. _Hagiri got left behind when we launched the rescue at the warehouse, he must have gotten caught. But Karasu didn't kill him, he just stuck Ebony in and sent him back to screw with us! How did I not notice, especially when Doctor disappeared!_

"Ebony knocked me out," Amanuma said. "because I figured it out. You have to stop him!"

No more need be said, Yusuke pulled out of Amanuma's grip, turned to the door, and ran out. There was a problem thought, he realized it as he pounded out onto the porch, Hagiri could be anywhere in the Temple, and he didn't have the time to look.

But that turned out not to be a problem because just as he rounded the corner, Ricky almost fell into him. She was a mess, clothes torn, leaves in her hair, dirt ground into her hands, and blood running down her leg.

"…that guy's crazy!" she panted, completely out of breath. "That… bastard tried …to kill me!"

"Hagiri?"

"It looked like him…but I don't think… it really is,"

Yusuke nodded. "Probably not quite. Where is he?"

"He was right behind me most of the way through the forest. I don't know if—"

Something caught Yusuke's eye. A man was running across the lawn of the Temple. It was Hagiri, without a doubt.

Dodging around Ricky, Yusuke jumped off the porch aiming a finger. "Spirit Gun!" he yelled. The familiar beam of light blasted from his fingertip, arching toward the back of the running psychic.

At the last moment, Hagiri turned and swept a hand out. His power over moving objects let him deflect the attack into the sky, then he took off again. Seeing his Spirit Gun fail, Yusuke started after Hagiri, but, demon speed or not, Hagiri's lead was too great. He was at the bottom of the Temple stair by the time he reached the top.

As he watched, Hagiri, or rather, the possessed Hagiri, stopped at the gate to the Temple and looked back up at him.

He actually _waved_ at Yusuke. Then ran.

"Shit!" Yusuke swore. He was too late again! Couldn't his timing ever be right? Fisting his hands Yusuke had to reign in his power to stop himself glowing.

That Hagiri was going to _die_ the next time Yusuke saw him. No one attacked his team and got away with it.

This had gone beyond Kurama, beyond Karasu. That had just been the starting point. Now after all that had happened, all the people who had gone into this, it was hard to see how it would ever end.

Every time they gained something, they lost something else. Their teams were so widely scattered that they hadn't even noticed when they were being picked off from the inside.

Standing there at the top of the stairs, for the first time Yusuke wondered if they might not be able to save Kurama and end this entire thing.

**--**

"**Yes, you're right when you say our allies are dropping like flies, but this was never going to be an easy fight. Casualties are to be expected. And do you know what we do? We step over them and we move on, because we don't have any other choice."**

**(Skullduggery Pleasant. Page 345)**

**--**

**TBC**


	19. The Poison and Sweet Scents

**Seeker **

Dane Soar

Freshly back from my trip and still a bit jet lagged, here I am, back with a new chapter as soon as I could! I do feel guilty about the long wait, sorry guys. Well, let the situation with Hagiri is coming to a close and now we get to see what's been happening in New York this whole time.

Chapter 19 **The Poison and Sweet Scents**

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**America**

**New York**

**A Well Decorated Apartment**

**--**

It had started so simply. All he wanted was to kill Kurama after causing him as much pain as possible. And if Karasu managed to survive the attempt, well, that would be just a bonus.

Targeting the kitsune had been simplicity itself. Once he found the place where Kurama's energy shone the brightest, he set up shop in that warehouse and bid Suzaku and Goki to watching Kurama day and night. They were to memorize his schedule so that Karasu would be able to determine at his leisure when the best time to take him was.

In the meantime, Karasu had made several visits and hired Ebony and Ivory who in turn found the troll demon gang.

Taking the kitsune had also been simple. A quick jolt of electricity from Suzaku had frozen the unsuspecting Kurama and Karasu had been able to swoop down on him. Picking him up he'd spirited the unconscious demon away.

From there on though, things became so very complicated.

Then again, that was alright. Simple had been getting boring.

**--**

Karasu leaned back comfortably in his chair. "This is a fine apartment. You live very well."

In the other chair the assassin, Menou, shifted uncomfortably. "Assassination is a profitable business, its true." This man had tracked her to her home. Her _home_. This dangerous, volatile demon, who she had betrayed not very long ago, was sitting in her home! "What is it you want?" she demanded. There was a strange smell in the air, sweet. It was making her even uneasier. Like the smell of something rotting that she couldn't place and Menou had a good nose.

"You left your post during the attack on the warehouse," said Karasu. "As your employer, I have to say I don't like your duplicity."

Holding a hand up, Menou examined her fingernails, but the attempt at casualness was ruined by the fact her hand shaking. "I am an assassin, I was offered a better price for my loyalty. I took it. Which makes you not my employer anymore."

A dangerous light flickered in Karasu's eyes and Menou held her breath. She really wanted this man out of here. "Then I shall simply hire you again. I need to find a demon who was also formerly in my employ, and it will take me far too long on my own."

"I don't help anyone for free." Menou said. "What will you pay—"

The door on the other side of the room opened, a child had just walked in. The little girl saw there was company and paused.

Almost at once, Karasu gestured.

"Don't move Jessi!" Menou cried, her calm shattered. Green glowing lights had appeared around the child. Obediently the girl froze, she could see the bombs, but didn't understand what the hovering lights were.

"A daughter, Menou?" asked Karasu, raising an eyebrow. "That seems rather out of character. Shall I…"

"Don't you dare." The sniper whispered fiercely.

Someone else walked in. "Menou, we're home. Is—" a man had followed the child in.

"And a husband?" Karasu smiled. "Very sentimental. Now I take it you'd like to have them both safe. If you do, then there is no price for your employment."

"Free? You want me to work for _free_?" a moment Menou looked scandalized, then she bit her lip, her eyes darting from her husband's tense face to her daughter's scared one. "Three days." she said at last. "Only for three days."

"You really think you can negotiate?"

"No, but I do think you don't have time to debate with me." Menou's calm was back, but one hand had reached into her pocket for a weapon.

After a moment's consideration Karasu waved and the bombs disappeared from around the man and girl. "You are right. I don't."

"Run," Menou told her husband. "I can take care of myself."

He nodded, grabbed their daughter and was gone from the doorway.

Turning, Menou glared at Karasu. "Fine then. Lets get this over with. Where do we need to go?"

**--**

**America**

**New York**

**Park**

**--**

Tracking was hard. Finding someone who didn't want to be found was hard. Thus searching for Goki was no cakewalk.

They'd been at it for hours, with Toya in the lead, as tracking was something he was good at. But with only the faintest tracings of energy to go on, and very diluted ones at that, even he had to admit he was only half sure at the best of times that they were going the right direction.

Kuwabara was surprised that Goki didn't leave New York until Kotori pointed out that it made a sort of sense. When everybody expected you to run as far as possible, staying local could save your life.

It also made looking for him much simpler for the small group. Sadly Goki wasn't being as reckless about taking his victims as before, or it would have been easier to find places he'd been. But if it meant more people didn't become soulless that _was_ good, after all, Sai was quick to say.

After hours of fruitless searching, during which time Kuwabara was certain they saw every alley and back street in New York, they stopped in a park.

It was one of the nice grassy tree filled variety, with most of the monuments graffiti free and the grass nicely trimmed. In a open spot, screened by a few evergreens the four stopped to see what Kayko had sent along for them to eat.

"Honestly I think it's going to take a while to find him," said Kuwabara accepting a bento box from Kotori. "I know that's not what you guys want to hear, but it's a needle in a haystack situation. We could be at this for a while."

Across from him, Toya broke his chopsticks apart with more force than actually necessary. He did not look thrilled.

Kotori sighed. "I don't have such as pressing reason to find Goki as others, but I'm still anxious to get my duty done." Next to her Sai nodded fervently.

Eagerly, Kuwabara took the top off his bento, he loved Kayko's home cooking, especially when she made Chinese food. This chicken with sweet and sour sauce was one of her best dishes.

As the other three talked about the trail and where they thought they should head next Toya shoved a piece of chicken, dripping with sauce, into his mouth so he wouldn't say any of the sharp comments that were lining up in his mind.

He wanted Goki in his sights so he could fill him full of needles of ice for all the trouble he'd brought. And for daring to hurt his teammate.

But Toya was sensible to know that they were going about as fast as they could without taking the risk of missing a vital clue that would set them on the right track. Urging speed as he so wanted to would only make things worse. So he kept his mouth full and thus shut.

"Anyway," Kuwabara was saying. "I don't think that Goki would be anywhere near the Dojo, from what I heard from Kurama, they're a pretty powerful clan of lynx demons so he wouldn't want to go anywhere near them."

"With that sort of reasoning it would make sense for us to be able to omit that area in our search." Kotori murmured, chewing her thumbnail thoughtfully.

"You know, it's a lot easier to talk to you these days, now that your not 'sir'ing and 'madam'ing everyone." commented Kuwabara.

Kotori blushed a bit. "I thought it made me professional, but eventually I figured out it just made me distant and rather annoying to the people I spoke to."

"And here I thought you where ignoring me all that time I was telling you just that," Sai remarked.

It was possible that the conversation would have continued on that vein for a while, but a strange sound from Toya made the others turn. At first they couldn't figure out was wrong, Toya had dropped his chopsticks, let the box slide from his lap, and had gone completely still, his eyes wide.

"What's the matter?" Kuwabara asked, putting his bento to one side.

Not answering, Toya clutched his throat, starting to get to his feet but not managing it, falling on his face.

"What the hell?" Kuwabara knelt by the ice master and laid a palm on him. He was unpleasantly surprised to find to that Toya was shaking.

Looking between the fallen box and the shivering Toya, Kotori connected the dots. "Poison!"

Quickly Sai spat out a mouthful of rice he had been about to swallow.

_Why is Toya the only one reacting?_ wondered Kuwabara briefly. _Wait, he was the first to start eating, the rest of us were to busy talking to so much as take a bite._ "Did any of you?" he began, but the others shook their head. "Good, I didn't eat any either."

Sai dipped a finger into the sweet and sour sauce, tentatively touching it to his tongue. He tasted the poison at one, recognizing it's type and spitting once he did. "We're in trouble," Sai said, usually somber, his face very grim. "this sauce has had antifreeze added to it."

"Antifreeze?" Asked Kotori, somewhat tremulously, going paper white. "Anti_freeze_? To a _ice_ master?"

"Oh-oh." Kuwabara. He turned Toya over, but Toya's eyes were closed and he was sweating. To Kuwabara's discomfort, he already felt several degrees warmer. "This is _not_ good."

**--**

**By The Dojo**

**--**

Ebony had dealt with the fact that the only established portal in New York was in the control of the riotous Dojo inhabitants by dashing out of the portal and just keeping going. He was halfway out of the place before anyone realized the portal had even been used.

One thing Ebony would miss about this host was how it could _move, _he liked being able to go this fast. One thing he wouldn't miss was the headache his host kept giving him though. It was most usual, the way this host was fighting him, normally humans were very easy to take over and almost never fought after they had been subdued.

But he didn't plan on keeping this one for long, there was no point staying as Hagiri when those at the Temple had figured out the assassin their midst. Still, it had been inevitable this point would come. Time to move on and return to the South American soil where he'd first met Ivory to bury what bits of her ashes he had been able to recover.

As far as he was concerned, he didn't work for Karasu anymore.

Cradling the bottle he left the Dojo, undetected.

**--**

**Streets**

**--**

It was hard to believe that with a tracking compass, a motorcycle, and a vengeful mind, Mitari had lost the trail. He didn't know how it had happened, one second it was crystal clear and then… gone.

With no other options, feeling incredibly disappointed, Mitari turned the bike back toward the Dojo. Maybe he could pick up the trail or someone at the Dojo could point him in the right direction. Was there anyone at the Dojo he knew? Mitari couldn't remember at the moment.

**--**

**Park**

**--**

While ice masters were not made out of ice, there were still some internal organs in their body that had very delicate temperatures maintained by ice rimmings. On hot days back at the Temple, Kuwabara remembered, Toya would spend the time in the shade, snapping bad temperedly at anyone who spoke to him, because he didn't feel well. Barring Jin of course.

Now Kuwabara held Toya down as he began to shake harder. "Damn, we need to get him to the Temple."

"There's healers at that Dojo too you know," Sai pointed out. "and it's closer."

"We can't go back, we have to find Goki," argued Kotori.

"Does it look like we have a choice?" Kuwabara glared at her. "And this was no accident, someone put antifreeze in our food on purpose. I want to get Toya to a healer I trust. That means Yukina. You two keep looking, I'm getting Toya back." As gently as he could Kuwabara lifted Toya in his arms. The ice master was small, but when he lifted him, he seemed much smaller. Maybe that was because he was trembling so violently.

But he stopped when Toya's hand grabbed Kotori's arm hard enough to make her wince. "G-get Jin ba—" a trickle of water poured from his lips and he coughed, dropping her arm.

"Okay, that's bad." Kuwabara murmured.

"You still have a little time," said Sai quickly. "but you need to move now. The damage isn't permanent yet, but if he starts convulsing, it's gotten to his nervous system. I saw this happen once to a human when I was still a ferry… err girl," he shook his head. "it all goes downhill from that point."

"Get going." Kotori told Kuwabara firmly. "We'll manage by ourselves."

With a nod, Kuwabara ran.

As he took the most direct route to the Dojo, Kuwabara replayed every moment they had the bento boxes with them. They'd passed the bundle among themselves all today, yes, but had anyone else touched the boxes? No, they'd had them in sight ever since Hagiri had given them to them.

Wait a minute.

_I keep some antifreeze in the Temple._ Kuwabara thought. It was for the car he sometimes drove to town with, down the tiny dirt road at the back of the Temple, in case he had to drive in winter. _And Hagiri probably can wander there wherever he wants and no one would say anything. No one would suspect. Oh no. Hiei's not just a paranoid bastard, we really did have a spy in our ranks._

_I need to get Toya to Yukina. Then I need to warn Yusuke. And then I _want_ to find Hagiri and wring his neck._

**--**

**Streets**

**--**

Menou sniffed the air. "Jeez, it's still around. What _is_ that strange smell? It's like rot."

"Shut up." Karasu snapped, drawing his cloak closer around himself.

**--**

"**You're going to fall," Skulduggery continued.**

**"Really?"**

**"You're going to fall hard, and I'm going to be there. I'll be the one pushing you."**

**(Skulduggery Pleasant. Page 224)**

**--**

**TBC**


	20. Turning Points

Seeker

Dane Soar

Thank you to the person who caught that typo, it was supposed to unusual not usual when Ebony was talking about Hagiri. Typos are the bane of my existence.

Chapter 20 **Turning Points**

**--**

**Streets**

**New York**

**--**

Running for one's life could prove to be very motivating, but Goki was starting to flag. All out running could take it out of a person. He needed to find somewhere to hole up until the ones on his trail got tired of looking for him. When this had all blown over, maybe he could get back into the Makai, and he knew if he managed that no one could trace him there.

After all, who would be able to find one more demon in an entire world of demons?

But first, he needed to loose the tracker on the motorcycle.

In what Goki liked to think was a real stroke of genius, he doubled back into the bar that the chase had started at. If the motorcyclist used any kind of tracer to follow him, the wards on the bar would made sure that it would have lost him.

Served that tracker right! What had he ever done to be hunted down like this?

The Orb in his hand was suddenly heavy and he almost dropped it. Oh, that. Yes, stealing all those souls and betraying Karasu had seemed like bright ideas at the time, but now he was having his doubts about that.

Besides, the Orb was starting to worry him. It kept doing that turning heavy thing lately. Goki wasn't sure if it was because he'd put so many human souls in it or maybe it was the demons making some sort of bid for freedom. Either way, this Orb was only a replica, it wasn't half as powerful as the original.

Well, maybe there was something he could do about that. Goki reached into the Orb and pulled out a soul somewhat at random. It glowed an appetizing mix of green and gold that made Goki's mouth water and wriggled stubbornly, trying to get free of his fingers. What a better way to free up a little space in the Orb and silence his growling stomach?

Two birds, one stone, Goki chuckled as he slurped the soul down. He thought he heard someone say: "Oh, this will _not_ do. My day has been bad enough. This is the last straw."

Oh-oh, Goki shook his head, he was hearing voices, he _must_ be going crazy.

**--**

**Streets**

**--**

Mitari wasn't happy to have lost Goki, but at least he able to take pride in the fact that he was getting much better at handling the motorcycle now. He was taking corners with more ease and finally shifting though the gears right. And he hadn't managed to smear himself into the pavement as he dodged between cars and ran up onto the sidewalk when he had to.

Now that he wasn't in so much of a hurry, he didn't have to be so reckless, but Mitari enjoyed the thrill of the bike.

Wishing he'd run into Hagiri sometime soon, he tapped his foot against the pavement at a traffic light, Mitari really wanted to ask the other psychic about getting a motorcycle of his own.

He was getting close to the Dojo when his wish was granted sooner than he'd have thought. Someone darted out of the door to the Dojo as Mitari turned the corner.

And though he tried to break, it was difficult to stop at the speed he was going.

And Ebony saw the bike coming right for him, he even started to dodge to the side however, something went wrong. It felt as if his muscles suddenly locked up all at the same time and refused to move. _What on earth?_ he wondered briefly.

Then there was a flash of purple eyes in his mind, a rather smug feeling, and though Ebony struggled to budge, he couldn't. His host had finally taken revenge and frozen him where he stood.

Ebony cursed all humans and all psychics to the blackest hells!

As the bike hit the person, Mitari saw to his horror that it was Hagiri he'd plowed into, at least, he saw in the brief moment before they both were sent flying.

The bike had hit him squarely in the leg, splintering the bone and had sent Hagiri flying.

Mitari went the other way, along with the motorcycle, still breaking as hard as he could, the bike falling over onto one side. They were tangled together as he skidded toward the wall. At the very last moment, Mitari managed to kick free his trapped leg and roll away from the bike.

The motorcycle kept going and when it hit the wall, it did so in a horrible screech of tearing metal.

When he finally stopped rolling, Mitari lifted his head from the pavement, saw the ruin of the borrowed bike, groaned mentally, and blacked out.

**--**

Sometime later, less than half an hour, the world blurred back into focus.

With another groan Mitari inspected the damage. The leg that had been trapped under the bike felt like it had been massaged with sandpaper, but when he yanked up the leg of his pants, his leg was only skinned. It was a good thing he had jeans on, that had protected him a little.

His hands were skinned too, the palms rubbed red and bleeding and various other places were throbbing, probably they were black and blue. He pushed himself to his knees, then, encouraged that the world didn't spin around half as much as he thought they would, to his feet. After a few seconds of disconcerting dizziness, he felt pretty much fine.

It was a good thing too, because he could see Hagiri lying about twenty feet away, on the side of the street. Thankfully no one seemed to have noticed the little sideshow, and if anyone had heard the bike's impact with the wall, they apparently had ignored it. He hurried, wincing as bruises complained bitterly, to where Hagiri lay.

As he knelt next to him, Mitari saw a strange thing. Black smoke poured from between the psychic's lips, forming into a dark man, who stood next to Hagiri for a moment.

Then the dark man looked at Mitari. "An interesting host. I have never seen the like before. And if he is lucky, he might not even die." Then Ebony took the bottle with the ashes carefully from the street and just as Mitari was about to start fumbling for water and his knife, the assassin dissipated back into black smoke, and blew away on the wind.

"Now _that's_ an exit," said Mitari thoughtfully. "if only I knew what it meant." he looked at Hagiri. "Are you okay?"

Hagiri was vacant for a moment, then the light came back to his eyes and he lost the slightly blank look he'd had before. He winced, sitting up. His leg was twisted in a direction not naturally taken by bones, it was clearly broken in several places and one side was aching in a ominous way that spoke of cracked ribs. Add in gashes and bruises and, yet again, he'd made a mess of himself.

"Are you okay?" Mitari asked again, with real concern now.

"No, definitely _not_ okay. I think I'm just about as far from 'okay' as you can get." Looking down the street at where the motorcycle lay, twisted out of any hope of repair, Hagiri's mouth fell open. "What the hell did you _do_ to my bike?!"

**--**

Coming down the street near to the side door of the Dojo, Kuwabara saw the two psychics talking quietly. Carefully putting Toya down, Kuwabara strode over to Hagiri. He should get the poisoned ice master to Yukina as soon as possible, but he was too angry to think particularly sensibly. Toya had spent most of the trip coughing water.

"You." He said angrily, making both psychics look up.

"Kuwabara," said Hagiri warily.

And he should be nervous, considering the thoughts going through Kuwabara's head just then. He wanted very badly to rip this traitor to shreds with his bare hands. Kuwabara grabbed him and with one heave lifted him up.

"What are you doing?" demanded Mitari, confused.

"Antifreeze in our food," Kuwabara glared at Hagiri. "that was a low blow, you bastard. So how much is Karasu paying you to keep us distracted? Or are you just doing this for kicks?"

"I'm not working for him," Hagiri said, evenly, calm for a person being held in the air by shirtfront.

"Bullshit!" shouted Kuwabara, he shook Hagiri until the psychic hissed in pain.

"Put him down!"

"Keep out Mitari!"

"_Hey_!" a voice shouted. "Kuwabara, set him down." Yusuke was there, putting a firm hand on his friend's shoulder. "There's more to the story than you'd think. What's wrong with Toya? And what happened to that bike?"

The mention of Toya reminded Kuwabara of the need for haste and he lowered Hagiri back to his own feet, though reluctantly. "This had better be good, Urameshi."

Mitari grabbed Hagiri's arm, steadying him as Hagiri discovered his broken leg wouldn't take any weight.

"It is," said Yusuke, as he watched Kuwabara go and pick Toya back up. The ice master was out cold, sweating, and pale, too warm to the touch for any demon associated with ice. "Remember Ivory? She has a partner, Ebony. Except what Ebony does is possess people and control them. I heard some of this from Kurama, but Amanuma told me some too. I'm guessing Karasu sent Hagiri here back with Ebony in control."

Wincing, Hagiri nodded. "From the point I came back after the fight at the warehouse I haven't been in control of myself. Amanuma's alright, then?"

"He'll heal." Yusuke said. "What happened to Toya, Kuwabara? You didn't say."

"There was antifreeze in our food. Only Toya ate it though," Kuwabara explained quickly. "He's not taking it well."

"That was me," said Hagiri grimly.

"Not important," Hiei had left the door of the Dojo that he had been lingering by, leading someone taller who was almost completely covered in a long coat by the hand. A hood obscured the person's face. "it won't take long for that antifreeze to kill. You had better get back to the temple."

Biting his lip, Kuwabara debated, he was still plenty angry and very much wanted to stay to thrash things out here, but Toya's condition took priority. He nodded at the rest and went through the still open door to find the portal.

"Question," Mitari said.

"What?" asked Yusuke.

"Was the black man that turned to smoke and blew away the Ebony you were talking about?"

"Sounds like it." Yusuke looked at Hagiri. "He really gone?"

"He is. A host that has one leg crushed to bits and with no element of surprise isn't of much use," Hagiri half-smiled. "and I'm stubborn. Ebony ran. He's gone for good."

"And give me five reasons why I should believe you after all this," said Yusuke. "Hiei, check him, would you? I want to make sure, I'm trusting, but not _that_ trusting."

Light flared briefly on Hiei's forehead, then he shook his head. "Nothing extra in his mind."

"Fine then." Yusuke said. "But I wouldn't go back to the temple if I were you, Yukina's going to be busy healing Toya and Botan is in Spirit World right now, returning a certain necromancer. Which means they're clear out of healers."

"There are healers at the Dojo," Mitari said. "I'll get him there. What are the three of you going to do? And who's that in the coat?"

"What this, Twenty Questions? We're going to get to Goki, hopefully we'll do it before something happens to Kotori and Sai. I don't like them alone, Kotori's good, but Sai's no fighter. And if Karasu finds them they're as good as done for. As for your second question," Yusuke spoke to the person in the coat. "I guess no one expects you to be up and about, eh?"

Now Mitari was well and truly confused.

Until the person lifted a pale hand and pushed their hood back. "…you know, lack of most of one's soul… does tend to slow the average person down…" Kurama said. His voice had a slightly distant tone to it.

Mitari just about fell over, taking Hagiri with him. When they finally regained their balance, Mitari gaped at Kurama. "Everyone else who lost their souls just lays around, how are you walking?"

"He retained a small part of his soul in the split." Hiei explained. "There isn't much in him, but enough to walk and even speak some."

"I figured if I was going to get the rest of his soul back it would be easier to have Kurama nearby. It would save time." Yusuke shrugged.

"…I would appreciate it if you…wouldn't speak about me as if I was not… here, Yusuke."

"Sorry 'bout that."

"Umm," Hagiri interjected. "I hate to interrupt, but I'd would really love to get to someone who could put my leg back together, this kind of hurts."

"Then you should head off," Yusuke said. "we probably need to get going."

"Wait a second!" Mitari exclaimed. He left Hagiri to stand on his own for a moment and ran over to the remains of the bike. From it he pried the compass, handing it to Yusuke. "Mengii made this. It's a tracking compass, she wanted you to have it. This should help you find Goki."

"How did you not find him if you had this?" Hiei asked.

"Something made me lose his trail, maybe he went through somewhere with shields. Well, in any case, good luck."

"The same to you two," said Yusuke and started down the street. Hiei followed, towing a still rather vague Kurama by the hand.

Then Mitari helped Hagiri limp into the Dojo as the other psychic grumbled about the death of his bike.

"So… I guess this puts finding a motorcycle for me out of the question?" Mitari said.

**--**

**Genkai's Temple**

**--**

Yet again Yukina was forced to confront the one real hole in her healing skills. She was not good at poisons. Sometimes she could do something, but usually only if the poison had not been in the victim's bloodstream for long.

When Kuwabara dashed up the stairs with a shuddering Toya in tow, Yukina felt a sinking feeling in her stomach the moment she saw them. She was sweeping leaves from the steps of the temple at the time, and barely had to touch Toya to know that the poison had worked it's way too far into his system for her to stop it.

But nevertheless, she tried anyway. With crisp orders, Yukina had Kuwabara bring Toya inside where Amanuma —recovered from his time in the closet— made up a pallet.

"I know this kind of thing isn't your specialty, poisons and all," Kuwabara told Yukina quietly, as she bathed the ice master's forehead with a cloth. "but is there anything you can do for him?"

"I will try," Yukina said, putting the cloth aside "you know I will. But antifreeze? And it might have been too long since he ate the contaminated food. But I'll do what I can, it's just… I need to concentrate completely on the healing. Try not to be distracting, Kazuma."

In spite of the serious situation, Kuwabara grinned at the ice maiden. "Am I distracting to you?"

She patted him on the leg with a delicate hand, smiling, then put both on Toya's chest, concentrating in and _out_. As she began to glow, Kuwabara backed out of the room.

Outside, he saw that Amanuma was waiting, he'd retrieved Yukina's discarded broom and was nervously clutching it. "What happened?"

"Hagiri; Yusuke tells me he was controlled, put antifreeze on the food Kayko made for us. Only Toya ate it though. There's a bruise on your head, what happened to you?"

Amanuma reached up a hand and touched the bruise. "Oh. I realized Hagiri was being controlled and the black guy doing it knocked me out. I've been in a closet this whole time, Yukina found me and fixed the crack in my head, but the bruise is sticking around." He sighed and shifted the broom in his hands, then seemed to realize for the first time that he was holding it. "By the way, do you know where this goes?"

"In the hall closet over there," Kuwabara pointed.

With a nod of thanks, Amanuma went over to the indicated door. He reached for the doorknob, but it turned from the inside. For a second, Amanuma was confused, but then the door opened and Doctor practically fell into him.

There was a red swollen wound across Kamiya's throat and he was leaning heavily against Amanuma, but he was most definitely alive. "…Hag…iri!" Doctor gasped. "Controlled!

"We know," Amanuma told him. "he got you too?"

"Yes,"

"Wait a moment, Kuwabara, what happened to Hagiri?" Amanuma asked.

"Mitari hit him with his bike and Ebony hightailed it. They stayed at the Dojo to heal up there. They'll probably be along soon. Have you been lying in the closet this whole time?"

Doctor nodded. "My throat was cut. It took quite a while to heal or I would have been out sooner."

"Hey, Doctor, you're good at poisons," Amanuma said, suddenly, brightening up. "There's someone who needs your help!"

"Well, I do have some experience in them." Doctor gestured and several small winged insects appeared by his shoulder, summoned. They buzzed intently, their stingers filled with dark liquid.

"You still have those things?" said Amanuma, backing a little way away, nervously. "They give me the creeps. Can't you just use needles like all the other doctors?"

Smiling, Kamiya said: "Oh, but I'm not like other doctors. Now where's the patient?"

**--**

"**Let us once more believe in miracles."**

**(Kujaku RG Veda)**

**--**

**TBC**


	21. Terrific, More Soulless People

Seeker

Dane Soar

Things are on the road to wrapping up, not many chapters to go.

Chapter 21 **Terrific, More Soulless People**

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**Genkai's Temple**

**--**

It didn't take long for the healers at the Dojo to patch up Hagiri. In fact, it seemed like they wanted to get rid of him and Mitari as soon as possible. They quickly put the bones in Hagiri's leg back together and mended a few other fractures and breaks. They even healed Mitari's various scrapes; anything, it seemed, to get them through that portal faster.

Thankfully, they didn't have any trouble between portals in the Makai, which was a good thing, because were both so exhausted they probably wouldn't have managed to fend off any kind of attack.

Back at the Temple they discovered that most of the excitement was over. The poison had been purged from Toya by Doctor's efforts with his bugs and put in the same room as those who had had their souls taken from them.

He was still unconscious but, as Doctor assured Hagiri, the anti-freeze hadn't done any damage that couldn't be reversed. Some of the natural ice inside him had been melted so he wouldn't be on his feet very soon, but he should be alright after a few weeks rest.

For the time being, it was probably best that he slept.

Also Ricky was not much the worse for her run through the woods, but she was off busy having a very intense conversation on her phone. Maybe mending bridges with her girlfriend? Who knew.

Kayko had continued to cook, even after almost everyone left, so there was plenty of food sitting around just waiting to be eaten.

Stealing dishes of it, everyone who was still able to move sat on the long porch of the temple and dug in with gusto.

"You sure you don't want anything to eat?" Kuwabara asked Kayko. "I mean, you made all of this, it doesn't feel right if you don't take some."

She waved a hand. "Oh, no. I… um, feel a bit queasy." Her other hand went down to touch her stomach as Kuwabara shrugged. "It must be nerves. I'm worried about Yusuke wandering around."

"Well, if Hiei's with him, he'll be fine." Mitari said, then stuffed more rice in his mouth.

"Yes, but that doesn't stop me from being worried about him," she sighed.

Next to her, Yukina smiled at her, knowing the real reason for her queasiness.

Having not eaten for a while, Mitari, Doctor, Amanuma, and Kuwabara ate with great enthusiasm, but Hagiri picked at his food for a while, then passed it off to Kuwabara.

He wasn't feeling all too hungry at the moment.

**--**

**Streets Of New York**

**--**

"You're under arrest!" Kotori yelled at Goki, pointing one finger that glowed with power.

He groaned. He didn't have time for something like this.

"You know, you are _not_ very smart," someone said. "If a demon had to eat me, I wish it would have had more brains."

"Now, kneel on the ground, demon and put your hands behind your head." The Spirit Detective shouted, advancing on him.

Goki was shaking his head. Where had that first voice come from? It sounded familiar, but it seemed to have come from his own head. Were the voices in your head supposed to sound familiar?

"Kneel down, demon! I won't repeat myself too many times," Kotori demanded.

"You should probably do what she says. She seems to be a bit vexed with you. No idea why, of course." Again the mystery voice. But inside-the-head-voice was talking sense so Goki decided to listen to it.

He knelt on the street. People had scattered when all the shouting had started, they were now being given a wide birth by New York veterans of the street. But when he'd knelt, he hadn't let go of the Orb, he hoped the Spirit Detective wouldn't notice that.

"And your hands behind your head!" Kotori was in arm's length of him now, but her assistant was keeping a wary distance.

Though the chances didn't look good, Goki tensed, waiting for the right time to strike.

"Look," said the voice. "I suppose you aren't going to let yourself be arrested, are you?"

_Of course not!_ He thought. _I could force my way past her, she doesn't look so tough._

"Yes, but then her assistant will brain you over the head with his oar. If you won't go quietly, it's in my best interests to help you get away safely. After all, I don't plan to be digested and while I'm in here, I might as well do some good."

_Fine voice in my head, what do you think I should do?_ thought Goki.

"Hands behind your head or I shoot!" roared Kotori. "And these things might not be bullets, but they hurt just as much."

"Okay, look, just listen to me and do exactly what I say…"

Kotori was still wary, even though Goki had his hands behind his head and was looking cowed. It taken her a few close calls to figure out that when demons looked like they'd given up was the time to watch them the most carefully.

And the stupider the demon, the more they would try.

Taking out a pair of handcuffs that were charmed to seal away the power of any demon she cautiously started around Goki. She was almost around him, when he moved.

In the space of a moment, he'd hit her arm with his Orb, then thrown it at Sai as hard as he could. His aim was good. The Orb thumped into Sai's forehead and he toppled over as if someone had cut a string that had been holding him up.

With a chuckle, Goki climbed to his feet. He checked that the Spirit Detective wasn't faking, then retrieved the Orb from the ground. It felt heavy again.

Looking at the two soulless bodies laying there he shook his head in awe. "Whoever you are in there," Goki tapped his head. "I'm starting to like you."

"Oh, how wonderful. And I'm in your stomach, not your head, moron."

"Who are you?"

"Surely you remember me? Come now, Goki, we worked together, remember?"

"Nope." He started walking, the more distance between him and the bodies when they were found, the better. "and I'm not so good at remembering people's voices, it'll be faster to just tell me."

The voice sighed. "If we're going to be stuck together for a while, you might as well listen to me. Perhaps we can come to some sort of agreement? I help you and you regurgitate me. That sounds fair."

Goki patted his stomach. "No way, I'm keeping you in there and you keep me alive and free. Then we'll talk. And what was your name again? I missed it."

"I didn't tell you. It's Kurama. Long time no see. You know when I said 'Let's work together again sometime' I didn't mean like this. And I was being sarcastic."

As the two bickered their way down the street, something was making a ringing noise by the bodies.

It was a discarded phone. Sai had pressed a button on his speed dial as soon as he saw Goki strike and the cell was still ringing. His hand has fallen to half cover it, fingers shielding it from view.

**--**

Across the city, Yusuke rolled his eyes as his phone started to ring. "I hope that's not bad news," he glanced at the readout. "I think that's Sai, he made a point of getting my number in case he needed to get us. Hello?" listening for a second Yusuke made a face. "Nobody there," he said to Hiei. "that's not good. Can you trace this call with your Jagan?" he held the cell out to him.

"I am _not_ a computer tracking system," said Hiei, scowling.

"…Hiei, I don't think this… is the time…" Kurama interjected.

With a sigh, Hiei took the phone and his Jagan glowed in his forehead. A moment later he snapped the phone shut, handed it back to Yusuke, and gave them an address.

"Do you know where that is?" Yusuke asked Kurama. "You're the local here."

"Go that way…" Kurama pointed. "it's not far… to go."

**--**

On the pavement, Sai's phone stopped ringing. A silence fell over the street as the two bodies lay and stared up at the darkening sky with eyes that did not see it.

Night was falling on the city.

**--**

**Orb**

**--**

"Oi! Kurama! Where'd you go?"

"Jin, I really think he's gone."

"Come on Mengii, ya can't just give up like that. I donna like the idea of Goki a-munching away on old Youko."

"What on earth? This feels strange."

"I think I recognize that voice. Is that Kotori?"

"Yes, it is. Is that Mengii?"

"Oh no! Dial phone, _dial_! I've got to warn the others!"

"Sai, it's too late, we're already in the Orb."

"Kotori?"

"Yes. Mengii is here too."

"Ah, don't go forgettin' me!"

"And that's Jin."

" You know, it's funny, you two showing up like this. We _almost_ had a little elbow room!"

**--**

**Genkai's Temple**

**--**

With the back of a hand that shook, Hagiri wiped his mouth. Good thing he hadn't eaten much. It was true, what he'd said to Mitari, he was about as far from okay as it was possible to get and still be your feet.

Slipping away from the others wasn't hard, he'd been pretty good at keeping it together around them. But with the bathroom door locked and him sitting on the floor, he let the act drop. Watching his fingers shake, he remembered the feeling of having his own body move without him telling it to, having something in his mind think before he could. That was going to keep him awake for a while.

A really long while.

He dropped his head to rest on his knees, letting his hand fall to the floor. That damn demon had taken absolute control of him then threw him away when he didn't need the puppet anymore. That Ebony was not going to be a happy man once he caught up with him.

And he knew where Ebony was heading to, South America. There was a lot of South America too look in, but Ebony, the cocky bastard, hadn't bother to conceal the picture of the place where he wanted to go from him, assuming that Hagiri would never use it to find him.

Well, that was Ebony's mistake.

Holding his hand out again, Hagiri made a fist. That was it. He would find that monster and kill him with his _own_ two hands.

His hand wasn't shaking anymore. Now he had a goal, a real goal, and it helped. He had something to focus on, something to accomplish. With a few contacts, some asking around, and perhaps some Spanish, finding the place Ebony was headed for wouldn't be difficult.

And the dark man wouldn't even know what hit him.

He'd pulled himself together.

A few minutes later he was walking down the hall and Amanuma hailed him. "Hey! There you are. I've been looking for you."

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"Actually, I was going to ask you. You picked at your food the whole time and you're really pale. Is something wrong?"

"No, no I…" Hagiri paused then ran his fingers through his hair in exasperation. It was getting pretty long. Maybe he should get it cut. "Yes. I feel like hell warmed over."

"Anything I can do?" Amanuma's face was concerned. "All the macho 'I don't need any help' aside, I mean."

"I appreciate the offer but…" with a sigh, Hagiri leaned back against the wall as if he was tired beyond describing. "It's just left over stuff from having someone else share headspace. Give me a few weeks… I should be fine."

"_Right_," Amanuma colored the word with sarcasm. "But there's something else bothering you. Don't try to fool me, not only have I know you for years but I've been in your head for a while. What is it?"

Again Hagiri ran a hand through his hair. Untied it. Fiddled with the tie. Bit his lower lip with his teeth.

Amanuma could tell he was thinking, and didn't complain when the silence stretched for a long time. He came to lean next to him.

Finally Hagiri said: "When I got put back together at the Dojo the healer who did it said something interesting."

"What did they say? And why does it bother you so much?"

**--**

_The healer frowned at him, her tufted ears tilting backwards as she did so. "Well, your leg is in one piece. It will ache something fierce for a while, but the bones are whole again. But… there's something else."_

_"What?" he asked, somewhat worried. Had he finally managed to break something that couldn't be healed?_

_"Have you ever been healed by a demon?"_

_"No, not that I can think of. There's a psychic who usually patches me up."_

_Tapping her chin thoughtfully she said. "That would explain it."_

_"Explain what?"_

_The healer looked at him earnestly. "You have the worst bad luck curse on you that I've _ever_ seen."_

_He was perplexed. "What do you mean 'bad luck curse'?"_

_"You must have really pissed off a demon, it's a nasty spell," at his blank look, she went on. "A curse to draw any bad fortune, trouble, or dire luck to you. And it's worked its way in deep, you must have had it put on you when you were younger, but really only_ _another demon could have noticed it. Why, I only noticed it because I specialize in removing curses."_

_A thousand little incidents came together for Hagiri just then, that demon that tried to eat him when he was five, that time the railing had broken so he'd fallen off a roof at ten, almost getting run over by a bus at twelve, being kidnapped by more demons for a week or so at thirteen, getting slammed in the side by a baseball bat so he cracked or broke ten ribs at fifteen, coming close to kicking the bucket at seventeen after being stabbed in the chest by a sword thanks to Sensui, and a million other events. Fights, losses, injuries, his practically terminal bad luck; all the fault of this curse? "So you can take this thing off, right?"_

_"No. It's been on you for too long. There might be a cure or something," she shrugged. "but I don't know what it is. Perhaps someone else might, someone with more experience in curses that had really dug their way in."_

_After she'd left, Mitari had showed up and told him that the demons there were itching to get them out of their hair, but he'd been so distracted by his own thoughts that he'd almost not heard him._

**--**

"A curse?" Amanuma said. "That does explain a lot. What are you going to do?"

"What _can_ I do about it? I have bigger problems at the moment." _Like getting over the fact that someone was sharing headspace with me for a while. _Hagiri thought. _But at least this is a good way of changing the subject. I don't want to talk about the whole Ebony thing at the moment. Plus Amanuma would probably made a big deal over me going to hunt him down. Best to stay away from that._

"Still, you should give it some thought, you know? I mean, if you can get it taken off, then no more nasty injuries and fights, right? That'd be pretty cool, wouldn't it?"

Hagiri nodded. "It would," he made a face and paused, thinking again. Then he snapped his hair back into the ponytail. "but this isn't the time. Kurama still isn't back and Karasu is still running around alive. Or at least close enough to alive."

"So is Ebony," Amanuma said, on a hunch.

"Not for long," said Hagiri grimly.

**--**

**Somewhere New York**

**--**

Twilight was disappointed that she had not been able to get so much of a trace of the body she had been sent to look for. Every single place she had checked and every single lead she had tried to find had failed her. So here she was heading back to the Dojo empty-handed. She'd have to tell Yusuke that it looked like Kurama's other body was hidden better than she'd thought.

On that front she was somewhat worried. There had been no news at all from the others, and while the fact that no one had called her needing her backup desperately was good, she had a sneaking feeling that she was probably missing some new development back at the temple.

Hopefully this whole thing wasn't a huge wild goose chase.

She sighed, tugging a errant wisp of her short hair. That mission on the west coast had really been something. It would have been nice to take a bit of a break before plunging back into another situation, but she'd brought this one on herself.

Nearing the Dojo, Twilight paused for a moment to examine the motorcycle that had folded itself into the wall. Now that was interesting. She wondered what the story was for _that_.

Suddenly her head went up and she sniffed the air. What was that smell?

**--**

**Streets **

**--**

Yusuke swore so violently when they found the bodies that Hiei was briefly impressed at the half demon's impressive vocabulary. "I'm such an idiot. I can't believe I let these two end up alone." He was so angry that when he slammed a fist into the wall, it made a dent in the blocks.

"Yusuke… don't," Kurama said. "How could you… have know this would… happen? You can't be… everywhere."

"I know," Yusuke said bitterly. "That doesn't stop me feeling guilty. Damnit, these two were on my team. I'm supposed to look after them! And they still got their souls stolen." He went to slam his fist into he wall again but Hiei grabbed his arm.

"Stop it, moron. You might be the leader of this mess but that doesn't mean you _protect_ us all. Some of us can actually take care of ourselves. But for those of us who can't… then you have to keep your eyes on the goal and make it worth it in the end. For once you have to accept that you can't save them all and hope for the best in the end. Now let's drag them back to the Dojo, send them back to the Temple, and then get back to finding Goki."

**--**

**"As cell leader, my teammates lives are in my hands. I should've placed more value on the lives of my teammates instead of one person abducted by the enemy. The right thing to do would've been to abort this reckless mission. "**

**"Then why didn't you?"**

**"Things don't always work by the book in this world… anyway, a lazy daydreamer like me is a poor excuse for a leader. All I can do for my comrades is believe in them. **

"**Listen up. I don't think they're sacrifices. I don't think their dead. _Don't under estimate my team_."**

**(Shikamaru Naruto)**

**--**

**TBC**


	22. The Soulstealer Caught

**Seeker **

Dane Soar

Sorry for the extreme lateness of this chapter, I had a very bad case of writer's block. I also got to the place in my notes where it says 'make sure you nail down the details of this exact part _before_ you get here.' Which was not good. Don't worry, I'm okay now.

Chapter 22 **The Soul-stealer Caught**

**--**

**Genkai's Temple**

**--**

His vision wasn't quite focusing properly, and he felt about as strong as a kitten, but a determined Toya could accomplish more than one would think. He'd managed to get to his feet, after all and that hadn't seemed possible when he'd first woken.

It might be a while before he got anywhere, but Toya was not going to be taken out of the game by a simple poisoning; after all, he had something to do. He paused at the foot of Jin's pallet. If he knelt to touch him he wasn't sure he could get back up again so he just looked down at the too-still form of his only friend in both the worlds.

Then slowly, steps faltering, but determined, Toya moved on.

Even if he had to drag himself through that portal, he was going back.

**--**

Botan had a strange expression on her face when she returned from Spirit World.

"Is something wrong?" Yukina asked her.

"You look odd," Kayko added.

"It's nothing bad. Lord Koenma asked me to do something a that was kind of… weird. Do any of you know where Hagiri is?"

"Over by the pond, talking to Amanuma and Mitari," Yukina replied at once. "Why?"

"I need to talk to him," was the only explanation Botan gave before she hurried away.

As Yukina had said, the three psychics were gathered around the pond, a small ornamental thing with fish, their shoes off and their feet in the water, much to the interest of the fish. Mitari was making Amanuma laugh by flicking water droplets at Hagiri, who was lying back on the grass.

Just Botan approached, a some water drops reversed their path suddenly, splashing Mitari in the face.

He yelped. "Hey, no fair! No powers."

The only response he got was a slight upward tipping of the corners of Hagiri's mouth.

Botan cleared her throat and Amanuma and Mitari turned and Hagiri sat up. "Um, I just came back from Spirit World and, ah, Lord Koenma wants me to give this to you, Hagiri." She reached into the folds of her kimono sleeve and drew out a folder.

"What is it?" he asked suspiciously, taking the folder with reluctance.

"Lord Koenma wants me to ask a favor of you." Botan was visibly uncomfortable, twisting the hem of her sleeve this way and that. "We've just received word that our current Spirit Detective is out of commission, her assistant sent a distress signal, for an indefinite amount of time, he wanted me to talk to you about acting as… as a sort of stand in."

As the mouths of Mitari and Amanuma fell, open almost simultaneously, Hagiri dropped the folder as if it had burned him. "First of all," he said in the slow careful way people do when they're angry, but trying not start yelling. "I was evil at least _twice_, though the second time wasn't exactly my fault, so why do you people trust me? And second of all, I don't want anything to do with Spirit World. I've seen what that jobs does to people and I don't like being a tool, even if it is just for bit of temp work."

"I personally didn't expect you to take it," Botan said quickly. "But Lord Koenma is in something of a panic at the moment. This entire situation is out of his control now that Kotori and Sai are out of the picture."

"What happened to them?" asked Mitari.

"We don't know. But no one has been able to contact either of them. Since they were going after Goki we can only assume they had their souls taken too. Lord Koenma is scrambling, he doesn't know how long he's going to be without a Spirit Detective and if word gets out in the Makai that Kotori's gone it won't be good for him. And in this entire group, you're the most powerful psychic that hasn't worked for us before. Like I said, I thought you'd say no, but I had to make the offer. Um, sorry," she added as the stormy expression that was still on Hagiri's face.

"You're just doing your job, nothing to be sorry for."

The words didn't sound angry, but Botan still had the extreme urge to leave. She made her excuses and hurried off on the pretence of getting something to eat.

As the three of them began to put their shoes back on, Amanuma said: "It's that curse, right? That's why you didn't take the job."

"Not just that." Hagiri glowered at the discarded folder. "You two were tools once too, remember? It's not something that ends well and I don't plan to get used again, even if it's only for a while. Plus with my luck, I'd probably get into something that'd get me killed."

Mitari laughed, he'd just been told about the curse himself. "You really need to get something done about that."

"That I do."

"How come I didn't get offered the job?" Amanuma asked, somewhat sulkily.

He got an elbow in the ribs from a grinning Mitari. "That's because we're still in training. And you have to work on your finesse. Remember what Mengii said?"

Amanuma winced. "Ouch. That hurt. Anyway, isn't it 'says' not 'said'? She's not dead."

The smile vanished from Mitari's face. "No… she's not. But soulless isn't much better."

**--**

"Damn, damn, _damn_!" Kuwabara said. He was standing in the open door of the room was used to keep all those soulless, the napping Ricky, and the unconscious Toya.

Except not all of those statements were true anymore.

"How the hell can he actually move anymore?!" storming out of the room Kuwabara pointed at the first could people he saw. "You and you and you! Come on, Toya's gone back to the US and is going to get himself killed. That _idiot_. I'm dragging him back here whether he wants to come or not!"

**--**

**New York **

**Yusuke's Group**

**--**

It had been left to Yusuke to do the heavy lifting. He wasn't too thrilled about having to haul both Kotori and Sai to the Dojo but Hiei wasn't about to help and would have probably taken his head off if he suggested Kurama take some of the load as the kitsune was not in the best of health at the moment.

To put it mildly.

Thanks to demon strength, it wasn't hard to carry both, one under an arm and the other over his shoulder, but they were getting some strange looks. Luckily, this was New York. Nobody cared enough to ask in New York.

They were getting quite close to where they would enter the Dojo and from there the portal when Kurama paused. He had been quiet for quite a while, but now he spoke. "I sense… I sense myself."

"Your soul?" Hiei asked. "Goki must be near."

"Good," Yusuke shifted Kotori, on his shoulder, to a better position. "That'll save us a lot of time, can you tell where?"

"That way…" Kurama pointed.

They followed his instructions for a few minutes before Yusuke's cell phone rang just as they glimpsed a green form at the other end of the street.

Yusuke swore and set Sai, whose long green hair trailed down like vines, on the ground to dig out his phone. "This had better be really good."

"Is that you Yusuke?" a voice asked. "Thank _god_. I'm in trouble. It's— well, it's not good. I've got Karasu here."

**--**

**Twilight **

**Streets**

**--**

Twilight was an incredible fighter, it was what she did for a living, finding rouge demons and beating the crap out of them. Do something bad on this continent, it was said in the local demon community, and you might find Twilight knocking on your door the next day.

And that was something you _really_ didn't want.

But a few decades of skill aside, she knew she was in trouble. She staggered back from the explosion, flailing wildly with one arm for balance and trying with the other to get the blade of her pike out of the way so she wouldn't fall on it.

The demon had come on her out of nowhere, all flashing purple eyes and green glowing bombs. So this was Karasu.

Usually she'd run like hell if she was stuck in a situation like this, but there was a sniper holed up nearby, bullets would hit the pavement near her feet every time she started to bolt, it was impossible to get away.

So here she was, all on her lonesome with no backup and no help to speak of. _Brilliant job Twilight,_ She thought bitterly. _You've come all this way to get killed off by a walking corpse that has a thing for redheads. Not damn likely!_

Even as she was dodging to the side to avoid another bomb she was putting a hand to her pocket. Once her cell phone was located she dialed Yusuke. She was extremely relived to get Yusuke. He wasn't. But it didn't take long for her to fill him in.

"I need bailing out, right no—" something wrapped around her arm and Twilight glanced down at it. Karasu was smiling a little wider now and she had a feeling that wasn't good for her.

There was a snickering green bomb on a cable wrapped around her arm.

"Oh-oh." She said.

And then it blew up.

**--**

**Yusuke's Group**

**--**

Yusuke winced when the person on the other end screamed. That never boded well. Damn it! They were almost on Goki, he could see him right down the street. At this point they couldn't risk doing anything to make him bolt, they might never catch him again.

But Twilight was fighting Karasu and she was in trouble. You took care of your own. Damn, of all the times!

Wait a moment.

"Hiei," he muttered in a low voice. "find Twilight. Karasu's there."

"No." said Hiei flatly. He wasn't about to leave Kurama.

Yusuke glared at Hiei. "Look, I'll deal with this. Just go and make sure Twilight is still alive when we catch up with you."

With a last glance at Kurama, Hiei departed in a black blur. Though not happily.

In the meantime Goki had not noticed that he had been spotted. He was busy arguing with the soul in his stomach.

"You sure this is the smartest thing to do?"

"I know I've explained this before, Goki. Look, no one will think that you would be stupid enough to go anywhere near the Dojo because you don't want trouble with the lynx demons there. Which makes it a very good place to hide. Even if someone guesses you'll stay in New York they still won't search here."

"I don't know," Goki scratched his chin. "you could be trying to get me caught by putting me where one of your little friends will catch us."

"Little friends?" echoed Kurama incredulously. "I hope they _don't_ catch us. Because if one of my teammates hears you call them my 'little' friends, they'll kill you faster than you can blink. Especially if it's Hiei. And then that will really be bad for me. I think I'd be stuck."

"Sure," Goki said skeptically. "Right. I don't know if I should stay here."

"We went over this. Remember?"

At this vital junction, Yusuke's fist slammed into Goki's jaw. The green skinned demon reeled away, somehow keeping hold of the Orb and not falling right over. Yusuke was mildly surprised that he wasn't about a foot through the wall, he wasn't in a good mood with the green demon at this point.

"Gotcha," he said triumphantly. "finally. It took us enough damn chapters. You're supposed to be a minor villain, you know. Now it's time for your required ass-kicking."

In response, Goki turned to run, but Yusuke reached out and grabbed him by the back of the jacket. He slipped out of it hastily, but by this time Kurama was on the other side, blocking the street.

One finger was extended. It was pointing directly at Goki's stomach. "Right in there… he _ate_ me… I'm insulted…"

Goki's eyes darted anxiously from side-to-side, enemy-to-enemy, unsure which was worse, the now slightly glowing Yusuke on one side or the steely eyed Kurama who was now fingering a rose. He froze.

In his head, someone was snickering. And it wasn't him.

"In his stomach huh?" Yusuke said, grinning. "Well, I've fixed this problem before. I can do it again!" his fist clenched and he drew it back.

And then, using no demon power whatsoever, just pure force of muscle, Yusuke sunk the aforementioned fist directly into Goki stomach. And Yusuke had a _lot_ of muscle.

Goki dropped the Orb, threw up, and fell to his knees, but when he raised his head , souls started streaming out from his mouth. These glowing balls that streamed light floated up through the air, gently and airlessly at first, but then with more purpose as they seemed to realize their freedom and the fact that most were a long way from their various bodies.

One of these souls streaked over to Kurama and without a moment's hesitation sank into him.

Kurama doubled over, clutching his head.

Usually, the sensation one one's soul returning is quite pleasant. The body is so relieved to feel… well, _itself_ back it gives off a nice tingling feeling. But this is only true for brief separations of soul and body.

For longer ones it is quite a strange, awkward, and a bit painful feeling.

In Kurama's head two halves of the same soul were one again. Of course there was a great deal of mental sorting, resettling, and a rather intense argument about where exactly those chess pieces were between a kitsune and a redhead. Though this all internal.

After long moments things settled back into the correct places. Standing straight, Kurama looked around with an expression of amazement as if he had never seen a New York street before.

In the next second he was grabbed by Yusuke in an extremely tight, rib-creaking, hug. "You're back," Yusuke said into Kurama's shoulder. "We _finally_ got you back," He held the kitsune at arms length. "Are you okay?" he asked, looking for strange twitches or anything of the like.

"Just a bit of mental trauma, Yusuke. Nothing too permanent. I'm just a bit… woozy. Not everything's in the right place yet, but I'm sure that'll pass." Kurama smiled. "Though I do have a very large headache, if it makes you feel any better."

"You're cracking jokes. You must be feeling alright." Letting go of him, Yusuke sighed with relief. "Never, _ever_ do anything like that again."

"I got abducted. I didn't get much of a choice."

Yusuke seemed to ignore this. "Because you and Hiei and Kuwabara are the best damn friends I've ever had, and if any of you guys got killed because of something I dragged you into back in the old days. I'd—"

"We all went into the Dark Tournament for our own reasons, I hope you remember." said Kurama

"Shut up Kurama, I was trying to make a poignant speech."

"Oh, sorry. I'll be quiet now."

"Nope, moment's gone. Oh well, I never was very good at the speech thing anyway." Yusuke shrugged, not much perturbed, still a little drunk with relief. "Are you really sure you're okay?"

"Positive, Yusuke. It's… just a little strange. My life isn't in mortal danger at this very moment and that's become a rare thing recently. After all that's happened it's hard to think about going back to my former life. Speaking of which, I've been gone for so long…" Kurama made a face. "Ricky is going to kill me for leaving her alone for so long. I hope she's not on a case."

"About Ricky," Yusuke got a strange expression. "she, err, sort of ending up joining our little rescue attempt. Which means she knows about the demon thing now."

"Oh," said Kurama in a faint voice. "she's going to be _really_ mad at me. I might not survive. Speaking of people, where is Hiei? I remember he was here."

"Off helping Twi…" and Yusuke remembered the situation he'd heard over the phone, which had temporarily been driven from his mind by Kurama's complete return. "Oh damn. He went off to help Twilight who was being attacked by Karasu. I told him we'd head over there as soon at we dealt with him." Yusuke nodded at the still retching Goki.

"Where are they?"

"Not far away, I think. It shouldn't be too hard to find them, we'll just look for the explosions. First though," Yusuke reached down and took up the Orb. "I'd like to return two souls." He went over to where he'd put down Kotori and Sai, just a little way away from Goki, and was just reaching into the Orb when his cell phone rang.

Rolling his eyes, Yusuke put the Orb down next to the two soulless bodies and took out his cell. "What?"

"This is Hiei. I found Twilight but she's alone, Karasu's gone."

"How's Twilight?"

"Arm blown off."

"Ouch. Wait a moment, Karasu's gone?!"

"He's probably heading for Kurama. Keep Kur—"

But whatever Hiei said after that, Yusuke didn't hear, because that was when the still kneeling Goki was hit by several green objects and exploded into many, many little pieces.

**--**

"**That's the way of the world sometimes, something horrible and absolutely hysterical happening at the same time."**

**(Unknown)**

**--**

**TBC**


	23. Teamwork, Battles, and Rot

Seeker

Dane Soar

Here we are on **the second to last chapter** of 'Seeker', yeah, I'm pretty surprised too. I didn't expect it to come quite so quickly!

Very fervent thanks to everyone who reviewed and everyone give three cheers to my amazing and _extremely_ longsuffering editor.

Chapter 23 **Teamwork, Battles, and Rot**

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**New York**

**Streets Outside Dojo**

**Evening**

**--**

Yusuke was too far away when Karasu showed up. It was as simple as that. He was too far away.

Later he would call himself a moron for going more than four steps from Kurama, but sadly, the idea of returning Kotori and Sai's souls distracted him at the time.

That meant, that when Karasu showed up and grabbed Kurama by the neck, Yusuke was too far away to help without firing off a Spirit Gun. Which meant risking frying Kurama along with the nut-job. And Hiei would be a little pissed if that happened.

Meanwhile, Karasu had an arm locked around Kurama's throat from behind. He smiled at his captive, his breath stinking of burning plastic and rotting flesh. "Now I've got you again," he said. "It has been a good run, but now I think it's time to end this little charade."

"Not… on… your… life!" gritted Kurama, lacking the oxygen to say more. But Karasu had made a mistake, when he'd grabbed him, he'd lifted the kitsune up off the ground.

So both his feet were free. And Kurama used this to his best advantage, slamming both heels back into his attacker's shins. The arm around his throat loosened enough for him to slip out from under it, falling to the ground and snatching up the rose he'd dropped.

Within a moment Kurama was back on his feet, rosewhip in hand, a wary distance from Karasu.

"Here we are again."

"That's right, Karasu. Here we are again, just like in the old days. Although you had a less gray complexion back then. And were alive too."

The two were eyeing each other warily, waiting for a play to be made. Neither moved.

But something else did.

Goki was little more than a charred, vaguely humanoid figure at this point, but a bit of scorching never stopped a thing that wasn't technically alive in the first place. He stood, slowly, and started to totter away. His legs weren't technically the same length anymore and there was no longer any patch of skin on his that was not black but he staggered onward anyway.

This demon was a survivor. And he'd lived, figuratively of course, to tell the tale up to this point by knowing when to run.

And he was doing just that, quite intent on escape, up until the moment his feet froze to the pavement.

Someone else had joined the tableaux of still figures.

Toya limped into the street. When Goki saw him through clouded, ruined eyes, he struggled against his stuck feet. He remembered the partner of the wind master that he'd stolen a soul from, and this ice demon had murder in his flat eyes.

The ice wasn't loosening its grip on his ankles though, it was growing, expanding up the remains of his legs. And though Goki fought as hard as the remnants of muscles could, he couldn't get any of the encased limbs free. He started to scream, as much as he could with damaged vocal cords, but it was cut off as the ice rose smoothly over his face and met over top of his head.

And on Toya was still walking, between the two fighters, uncaring, closer and closer, with the single mindedness of someone who has only one last thing to do before he passes out.

He held one arm out, a blade of glittering ice frozen over it almost as deadly looking as the expression on his face. "You stole my teammate's soul. Jin's soul." With one vicious movement Toya sank the blade into Goki's chest, cracking the frozen cover. "Give him _back_, you son of a bitch!" The cracks spread, faster than the ice had, shattering what remained of Goki into very, very small pieces indeed.

Pieces that were definitely not getting up again.

While this sideshow had captured Yusuke's interest, Karasu had broken the spell of stillness between him and Kurama, casting out a casual bomb to blow Kurama's rosewhip in half, catapulting both into a blur of battle.

The two fought back and forth, but somehow Kurama was always one step ahead, dancing out of Karasu's grasp at the last moment every time.

"Are you okay?" Yusuke asked Toya, who was swaying on his feet.

The ice master let the blade melt into water. "What?" he said.

"And this might be a bad time to mention it, but," Yusuke held up the Orb. "Goki didn't eat Jin's soul. It's still in here."

"Give it to me then," Toya held out a hand for the small sphere.

Yusuke surrendered it willingly, the thing was creepy and it was too heavy in his hands. "I think it's broken. Anyway, give Kotori and Sai their souls back, would you?"

After Toya nodded and knelt wearily to the task, holding the Orb as if it was the most precious object in the world, Yusuke returned his attention back to the life or death battle taking place not far away.

It hadn't changed much in the few minutes he had been distracted. Karasu had failed to make any bomb connect, though the smoking hem of Kurama's jacket attested to a close call, though Kurama did not seem to be having the same problem. There was a rent in Karasu's cloak, at the shoulder.

But it wasn't bleeding and the skin under the tear was black. Decaying.

Lashing out in a quick movement, Kurama flicked out his whip. It wrapped around Karasu's ankle, yanking the other demon off balance. As he fell, Karasu gestured, but as the bomb broke through the ground Kurama was already spinning away, remembering this trick from the Dark Tournament.

In an instant both combatants were back on their feet, ready for the next attack. It was a skillful and lethal game of blows, parries, and blocks. Only one mistake would spell the end and painful death for the loser, but in the meantime, the demons played on, up and down the pavement of the street that was becoming increasingly more pitted with small craters and littered with charred bits of greenery.

And Yusuke could see the flash of gold in Kurama's eyes. He knew him well enough to get it. _I guess in some small way, he's always wanted a chance for a rematch. _

Which was enough for him to restrain himself from charging into the fight and just pulling Karasu to bits with his bare hands.

If Kurama wanted to exact a slightly slower revenge that instant incineration by Spirit Gun, well, he'd certainly had a crappy enough couple of days to warrant it.

**--**

Hiei had just had a strange conversation.

He'd been puzzling out the best way to drag Twilight to where the others were, while also taking along the unfortunately severed arm along, when a woman had approached.

The sniper rifle over her shoulder suggested that she wasn't just passing by on her way to the corner store. Hiei had seen the chips in the pavement that had suggested shots had been fired, now he knew their source, even if this dark haired woman with her faded dollar bill color eyes was a stranger to him.

She wasn't to Twilight though. "Menou," Twilight spat, teeth gritted in pain, remaining hand trying to stem the flow of blood from the stump of the other arm. "I should have known you would be in on this mess again. I thought you left back at the warehouse."

The woman, Menou, set the rifle aside and ripped a strip of cloth from the hem of her shirt. "It's just a job, Twilight. Besides," she tied the strip of cloth around the bleeding arm in a rough tourniquet. "he threatened to kill my family. I might be an assassin and a demon, but there is such a thing as going too far."

"So you're on our side all the sudden?"

"Hardly," she sniffed. "but if getting you two to where Karasu is right now means that he is regrettably killed, well… I don't think that would actually be too regrettable. Now, you over there, Hiei, wasn't it? If the two of us support the amputee here, we can get there quite quickly."

Hiei didn't bother to ask how she knew where the others were. There were explosions in the distance and that was all the directions they needed.

And Menou had been right when she said that with her help they would get there fast, though to Hiei it seemed like hours, they staggered into the street less then ten minutes later.

Once Hiei saw the fight, he was quick to dump Twilight and her arm off next to Yusuke and Toya. Delicate butterfly wings sprouted from Menou's back and she kicked off into the air, either leaving or looking for a roof out of the line of fire with a good view of events.

"Where's Goki?" Hiei asked, without looking away from the two battling demons.

"Dead." Yusuke said.

"Never to rise again," added Toya grimly. He dipped fingers into the Orb and, after some fishing around, drew out a soul, releasing it above the two still forms on the ground. He repeated the action as the first soul dived into the safety of it's body.

There was a groan from Sai as his body bitterly complained of it's recent treatment. "What did you people do? _Drag_ me here?"

"Where are we?" asked Kotori, a hand to her head as she slowly sat up. "And how is Kurama fighting? I thought he was still missing his soul."

"Got it back from Goki," said Yusuke. "who, by the way, I don't think you're going to have to arrest. I doubt he'll cause any more trouble as a hundred assorted bits of black burned pieces. It's good to see you two back, by the way."

"Oh, err, thanks."

Meanwhile, Twilight handed Toya an arm. Or more specifically, her arm. "Would you mind keeping that cold?" she asked.

They were both sitting side-by-side by this point, out of joint weariness.

"Um… why?"

"Because I want to get someone to put it back on, of course. I had a buddy who had a finger sliced off and the doctor said if he'd put it on ice they've have been able to put it back on with no nerve damage at all. Or at least, I think that's what he said." She frowned. Pain made memory a little fuzzy.

"Oh," said Toya. "well if you put it like that, I guess it would make sense."

As this pleasant conversation was going on, Kurama scored another hit to Karasu's wounded shoulder, lengthening the cut. A horrible smell of rotting came from beneath the cloak. The demon stumbled, as something bright and metallic fell from the inner folds of his cloak. He didn't cast a return blow, hand instead going to the wound.

Another twist of Kurama's wrist sent his whip out to slice Karasu from side to shoulder, severing the upraised arm at the wrist. The sound the hand made when it hit the ground was a _crunch_ not normally associated with living flesh.

Both demons stared at the hand, stilled for the moment with surprise.

"No…" Karasu said in horror, his other hand went to his face, clawing desperately, but wherever he touched the skin, it simply slid away, revealing the black decaying patches of face underneath. The flesh on his hand, his arms, his neck was peeling away the smell of rot getting stronger and stronger. "No!" he cried. "It won't end this way! I still haven't killed him! I must—" the demon took a step toward Kurama but there was cracking noise from somewhere around his legs and he fell.

The hand still desperately reached for Kurama, who drew back it disgust. "I must— have to kill— have to—" the fingers caught the hem of Kurama's jeans once, then their grip went slack, the entire body slumping to the ground.

And it didn't move anymore.

When Kurama cautiously crouched and rolled the body over, the face revealed bore no resemblance to Karasu at all. It was simply the shell that the necromancer had used to contain him.

"He's gone." Kurama said flatly. "Damn."

"What's wrong?" Yusuke asked. "Isn't that good?"

"Oh, it's wonderful. But I just always wanted to know,"

"Know what?" asked Hiei.

"Know if I could have beaten him."

"You did last time." He pointed out.

"I tricked him, in the end. I've always wanted to know if I could have won without that last plant I used. And here, I thought, was the ideal chance to find out. But I suppose now I'll never know."

"Does it matter?" Yusuke wanted to know.

Kurama rose to his feet. "Now that I think of it, no, it doesn't. It might have some years ago, but—"he swayed, but Hiei, who most definitely had not been right next to him a moment before, grabbed his arm to steady him. "… thank you, Hiei. Now there are other things that are more important. Would you?" Kurama directed the last bit to Hiei, how nodded, knowing what he was asked without it needing to be said.

He glared at the corpse and it burst into flames. And Hiei didn't let the flames fade until what had once been Karasu was just a scorch mark on the pavement. Let it never be said that Hiei held a grudge.

"Jeez, we high-tailed it over here, expecting blood and mayhem and we miss the best part." Kuwabara was walking up, behind him tailing several others that he'd swept up in his mad dash after he realized Toya had gone. They included Botan, Hagiri, Mitari, and Amanuma.

"Oh, there's still blood," said Twilight grimly, waving. "or did everyone forget that my arm is over there while I'm over here?"

"Um, yeah actually," said Yusuke.

"_I_ didn't." Toya said, he was still holding said arm, after all.

"Kotori, Sai, you guys got your souls back?" asked Botan.

"How did you know we lost them?" Kotori asked.

"I sent a distress signal," Sai explained. "Though I wasn't sure that Spirit World would get it, connection from human world it always so iffy." He had a bruise spreading across his temple from where he'd been hit with the Orb, but he brushed fingers over it and it went from black and purple to brown and yellow.

"Oh, they got it alright," muttered Hagiri.

"What was that?" said Kotori.

"Nothing," said Hagiri.

And Kuwabara said: "Urk!" and fell over. Behind him was someone who they had hoped to have seen the last of a few minutes ago.

Karasu smiled, a strange twisted thing and lowered the hand that had cast the bomb. "Did anyone miss me?" he reached down a picked up the thing that had fallen from his pocket. It was his mask. He placed it on his face, covering the smile that only had a passing wave for sanity.

"You're dead!" Amanuma yelled. "I mean, dead again! Your body is all burned up and everything, how the hell are you here?!"

"Ghosts are powerful things…" said Botan quietly. "especially angry, vengeful, demon ghosts."

"Like a… poltergeist?" Mitari ventured, he was slowly, quietly, reaching for his pocket. Glancing sideways, he caught Hagiri doing the same.

"A really, really mad poltergeist," Botan said.

Karasu lifted his hand, dark cloak trailing, and they were all treated to an encore appearance of the green lights that heralded explosives. The corners of the insane purple eyes were still crinkled in the smile. It was the sort of smile that the madman holding the red button gets, right before he pushes it and blows everything to hell.

It was that smile that made Kurama look around. There weren't just bombs hovering near Karasu, he had just turned his head and ended up looking right at his own personal, right next to his head, bomb. And, a glance to the side attested that Hiei also had one hovering lethally close.

Once he saw that, Kurama didn't even need to risk looking over his shoulder to see if the others were in a similar predicament. He knew Karasu after all. Even the downed Kuwabara was in serious danger of head removal. "No one move," he said quietly. "this is not the time to do something rash."

Most of the others were in very fervent agreement.

"Not quite what I had planned…" Karasu said, then he shook his head, just a little, brushing the thought away. "No matter, though. I rather like this ending, almost as much as my original one, in fact. Even if I have to die, at least I can take all of you with me. Lacks finesse perhaps, but effective in the end."

Meanwhile Botan had been desperately trying to catch Sai's eyes. When she finally did they shared a very significant look, then Sai nodded in understanding and kicked Kotori, who was next to him.

A pebble skittered across the ground and hit Botan's shoe. The sound it made was not all that loud, just enough to get her attention. She peeked sideways to see Hagiri looking directly at them.

He inclined his head slight toward the glowing bomb then pointed a finger upwards. He knew they were planning something and had just offered a little help.

Botan nodded her thanks.

And Sai held up one finger, then two, the three.

On three, all three launched themselves into action. Both ferry 'girls' hurled themselves toward Karasu, shedding the assumed human forms as they went and summoning their flying aids, Botan her oar and Sai his cardboard box.

They seized Karasu by the arms. He struggled, finding it oddly hard to tear out of their grips. They shepherded souls to the next life for a living, they knew how to deal with stubborn ghosts.

And then Kotori was in front of him. "With the authority of Spirit World and the power invested in me by Lord Koenma, you are under arrest." She slapped a seal on the ghost's chest. The rectangular piece of paper glowed with curling symbols as it began to seal off his power.

Karasu's eyes widened as he felt his control slipping, then narrowed in anger. He glared at his bombs, which all exploded.

Harmlessly, as it turned out. The moment the other three had made their move, Hagiri had thrown his power out in a wide loop, grabbing the lethal bombs and forcing them upwards into the sky.

Someone watching from a distance might have simply thought some fireworks were going off. But no one was blown to bits, much to the relief of all below.

Barring, of course, the thwarted Karasu, who spat what could have been a curse and slumped, the seal completely removing any ability to do anything else. Only the restraining grips of Botan and Sai kept him from just falling over.

With a sigh, Kotori pushed back her hair. "Okay, soul secured. Let's get him back to Spirit World. This time," she said to Kurama. "they'll put him somewhere where there's no possible way for him to get out."

"Good." Kurama said. "Because truthfully, I'd rather not _ever_ do this whole affair again. Once was enough."

Beside him Hiei rolled his eyes, quite clearly expressing his opinion in the matter.

After Kotori took a seat next to Sai on his box and Botan hauled the immobile Karasu up behind her on her oar, they took off, slowly because of their extra weight, headed for Spirit World.

And as they disappeared up into the sky, Karasu glared down at Kurama with enough forced to bore through stone. The glare was pure wrath and ruined revenge, a nasty combination.

But Hiei took one of Kurama's hands and Yusuke put a hand on the other shoulder, both offering silent support.

Because of this, Kurama could smiled up at Karasu, wave cheerily, and have the pleasure of watching the apoplectic rage in his old enemy's eyes as he was flown away.

Then the group was gone.

Then Kurama sighed. "That wraps that up then." letting go of Hiei's hand he knelt by Kuwabara.

"How bad is he?" Yusuke asked.

"A fist sized crater in his back, both otherwise, pretty much fine," Kurama replied as he closely inspected the wound on the human's back. "I can't do much for him, I don't think I have enough energy to make a flower bloom at this point. We had better get him to Yukina."

"And are _you_ okay?" Yusuke asked.

The kitsune looked at his hands for a moment, then said: "You know, for once, I am. Amazing. I usually end up something for the worse for wear after battle, but look, not a scratch."

"Your coat's burned," Hiei pointed out.

"True," Kurama frowned. "My clothes never seem to fare very well in battle either."

"You can buy another coat. But not another skin."

"Of course, Hiei, practical as always."

A sudden _crack_ made everyone whip around to see what had made the noise. It was Toya, who had stood and very deliberately thrown the Orb as hard as he could onto the pavement. The Orb cracked in two, broken and useless, and released it's cargo of souls.

They swirled for a moment, human and demon alike, confused, disorientated, then each glowing ball of light zoomed off in different directions, anxious to be reunited with their bodies.

Across the city, people in hospitals, who had mysteriously collapsed after an encounter with a certain green skinned demon, opened their eyes. To the complete and absolute perplexity of many a doctor.

Back in Japan, in the Temple, several still forms stirred.

"I guess that's as good a way to deal with that thing as any other," remarked Amanuma.

Mitari poked Hagiri with his foot. The other psychic had sat down very abruptly after he'd sent all the bombs up. "You okay?" It seemed to be the question of the hour.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Hagiri. "I'm just busy thanking every god I can think of off the top of my head. I was sure I'd miss at least one of those bombs."

"But you didn't."

"Lucky me. For once."

"Now that," said a new voice. "was _entertaining_." Menou was perched on the edge of a roof, her wings flaring out behind her. Hagiri groaned when he saw her. "The chance to watch such a satisfactory death was a privilege indeed. Hagiri, we'll say you owe me one favor, instead of two, since I got to watch the one who threatened my family die."

"Sure," said Hagiri. "that's… err, great."

With a twiddle of her fingers in farewell, the butterfly demon took flight, and was gone.

"We should get moving," said Twilight, into the silence that followed. "For two reasons. One: because sitting here is not helping my arm get put back on and two: I think I can hear sirens."

It was true, far off the distance police sirens where wailing, and they were coming closer.

"Well, we were making a lot of noise," Mitari pointed out. "Blowing stuff up is bound to get somebody's attention eventually."

So without further adieu, Kuwabara was picked up, those nearest grabbed Twilight and Toya, who were somewhat unsteady on their feet, and they ran.

When the police arrive on the scene all they found were several scorch marks and some sort of broken ball. Which, needless to say, was very confusing.

**--**

"**Yeah, almost dying sucked."**

**(Banri Saiyuki vol. 4)**

**--**

**TBC**


	24. Tying Things Up

**Seeker**

Dane Soar

Let me first of all apologize for the horrible lateness of this chapter and warn that it is rather long. It took longer than I would have thought, but here we are, the last chapter! As with 'Hunter' **there will be chapter of notes to follow things up**, and the epilogues are split. And thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who reviewed, you are awesome. Really.

And let's have a round of applause for my longsuffering Editor!

Chapter 24 **Tying Things Up**

**--------------------------------------------**

**Genkai's Temple**

**Some Hours Later**

**--------------------------------------------**

On the way over, some Makai hot bloods had very unwisely chosen to try to mess with the mixed group of human and demons for a little fun. It wasn't very smart. Yusuke was itching to exercise a little demon power.

He left the group behind in a pile of twitching, shuddering limbs and was in a much better mood after that.

They arrived back into the human world without any more trouble, though the last flight of stairs to the Temple was a bit of a trial as they were still dragging and carrying those who weren't very steady on their own feet. But they made it, the whole ragged crew, not quite in one piece, but close enough.

And they were met at the top of those stairs by a worried Kayko and an irate looking Jin. It was a strange thing to see the normally cheerful wind master angry.

Jin marched straight up to Toya, who was shaking off Mitari's supporting arm. He grabbed the ice master, and proceeded to shake him so hard Toya's teeth rattled. Then Jin hugged him tight. "Never do somein' that stupid again," he told his best friend. "Even for me."

"…sure." said Toya, somewhat vaguely, the air being squeezed out of his lungs.

Meanwhile, Kayko had grabbed Yusuke in a similar hug. Then she held him at arm's length. "I was so worried you wouldn't make it back. There's something I _have_ to tell you."

"Can't it wait?" Yusuke asked. "I'm starving and dirty and tired."

"No," she said firmly. "It can't wait a moment longer. I've been putting this off for far too long!"

"What is it?"

"I'm… I'm going have a baby!"

He blinked. "A what?"

"Baby," Kayko repeated slowly. "A baby."

Yusuke looked shocked. "What, right _now_?" he said, the first thing that came to his mind.

That made even the most tired of them laugh.

The wounded were seen to quickly, up in the temple. Yukina spending her last drops of energy on healing Kuwabara, so that he woke with a huge itchy patch between his shoulders, but that was preferable to the gaping hole that had been there previously.

And Doctor had taken charge of Twilight and her arm. He assured her that he'd done this many times, even with himself. Due to this practice, he had the severed limb back on in no little time.

During this time, Kurama and Hiei vanished somewhere or other. Which no one was too surprised about, though Ricky was rather annoyed on account of the fact she wanted to hash out a few things with her partner.

With those who were hurt on the mend, a very big growl from Yusuke's stomach reminded the group at large that most of their last meals had been many hours ago. And Kayko had been cooking for this entire time to keep her mind off where her husband was, so there was no lack of food in the temple.

Egg fu yung, dumplings, fried rice, egg rolls, sweet and sour chicken, and several other mouthwatering Chinese dishes all were promptly liberated from the kitchen, along with blankets.

"I haven't been on a picnic in years," remarked Kayko as Yukina helped her spread one of the blankets out.

"Kazuma took me on one," Yukina commented, smoothing a corner flat. "It's not a custom practiced in the Makai, but I quite liked it." She smiled at Kuwabara, who colored as he set a bowl of fried rice on the blanket.

"Eat everyone," Kayko commanded, in imperious tones. "I didn't spend hours slaving over a stove just to see all this go cold."

That got things started and soon, the only sound that could be heard was chewing and satisfaction for good food.

Only about fifteen minutes later Botan, Kotori, and Sai touched down, having returned from Spirit World. "Oh, food!" Sai said, gleefully, seating himself. "I'm starving."

"You aren't technically alive," Kotori pointed out, as she seated herself next to her assistant. "You can't possibly be hungry."

"We don't need food," said Botan, seating herself. "But eating is an old habit."

"How is Karasu?" Yusuke asked.

"Cozy in his cell," Kotori told him. "with so many wards and restraints on it that not even an ant could escape from it."

"Which is why we took so long in getting here," explained Sai, reaching for a dumpling. "Can I?"

"We have enough to go around," Kuwabara pointed out. He was busily stuffing food into his mouth with the enthusiasm common in the newly healed.

The three helped themselves to what remained of the food heartily.

Jin settled the sleeping Toya a little more easily on his shoulder, the ice master had sat next to him and fallen asleep in a few moments. "So what do you all usually do at the end of this kin' of… err, adventure?"

"Call it a disaster," said Yusuke. "I have to say that's what it is. Two years ago, after the Sensui thing, we did something similar to this, sat around and ate and talked about what we would do next. Speaking of which, I guess now that things are all over we _should_ talk about what's next." He tapped a chopstick against his lip. "I guess some of you guys are heading back to the US."

Twilight nodded. "You bet. I have 'duties to fulfill' and all that."

"I have college," Amanuma said.

"Me too," Mitari added.

"And I need to get back to work," said Mengii.

Ricky winced. "Work. Oh, yeah. Ouch. I didn't take time off, I just left. The boss is going to _kill_ me. Then again, Chi… Kurama is in the same boat, so at least we can suffer together."

"Shared misery?" Yusuke asked.

"Something like that."

"You know," Doctor said, thoughtfully. "I didn't tell anyone at the hospital I was leaving. I bet their thinking I'm dead by now."

"Hey, you're still here this time," said Yusuke, with a laugh. "You disappeared last time.

Shrugging, Doctor said, "I forgot this time. Oh, well. I'm too tired to do any sneaking."

"Yeah, _you_ all 're tired." Jin said with a sigh. "I missed all da fun."

"Fun." Yusuke laughed, putting an arm around his wife and pulled her a little closer. "That's one way to put it."

**--------------------------------------------**

The two demons had separated themselves from the group quickly, sensing, without a word passing between them, that each needed to be away from the group in general. Kurama was beginning to walk with a little less than his usual grace, becoming weary, but with Hiei walking just a half step behind him he didn't have to worry about falling.

Once alone they wandered for a bit, not far from the Temple, just around the grounds, until Kurama stumbled and Hiei pointed at the porch firmly. The kitsune had little energy left and agreed without argument.

So they sat, together, on the porch of the Temple, each leaning just a bit toward the other, their shoulders barely touching. They still didn't speak, simply sat, remembering once more what it felt like to sit next to the other, something that they had once been so familiar with.

And after time passed, Kurama finally spoke.

"So you wanted to speak with me, Hiei?"

"I want to do many things with you, Kurama, but yes, speak is on the list."

"What's this? Had I known that you were going to develop a sense of humor while I got kidnapped, I would have gotten kidnapped sooner. Or more often."

"That is _not_ funny."

"I know. Sorry."

"Never mind."

"… so are you going to return to the Makai, Hiei?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because it's rather important to me whether or not you're leaving. Because if you did, I would… miss you."

"Really, Kurama?"

"Very much."

"Then come with me to the Makai."

"Oh, not _this_ old argument again. You know I cannot do that. A least not for some years."

"How many?"

"I don't know, Hiei. Long enough that saying goodbye to human world won't be painful. But one day… one day I will return to the Makai. I'm sure there are many treasures left there to steal."

"Good."

"And when that day comes and I have left here, will you join me at my side? I will need a partner in crime. I promise you, it will be interesting."

"I have no doubt. But I'll be there, kitsune. The border doesn't need me, Mukuro can manage with one less captain. And my term of service from the Makai Tournament is long over. I look forward to returning to thievery."

"Then we shall steal. When I leave the human world for a final time"

"And in the meantime?"

"What do you mean, Hiei?"

"Kurama, I lost you to a madman once. I don't want to do it again."

"… that won't happen again. You don't have to worry on my account. I can take care of myself. Except when an insane enemy of mine is resurrected, but I doubt that that will be happening very much after this."

"True. Will you be… alright?"

"I think so. Despite all of it, the abduction, the bombs, the soul splitting, I think I will be. After some rest."

"Then you should sleep."

"Not yet. I'd like to get home before I drop."

"And home is?"

"For the time being, New York. Come, let's find the others and see if anyone else is heading out."

"Fine, Kurama. Just don't blame me if you fall over."

"You know, the last time we really talked about all of this, we were stuck in a closet."

"No fan service I suppose. Let's find the others."

**--------------------------------------------**

They were just in time in returning to the others as most of the food had been consumed and those who had to return to the States were ready to set out. Kurama joined them, weary but determined to go home.

However Yusuke intervened. "Um, Kurama, about your apartment. I've got some bad news."

He frowned at him. "Well, I suppose nothing could be worse than any of this. What is it?"

"We met in your apartment, after we figured out you were gone and… err, Suzaku sort of made the roof fall in."

"_Sort_ of?"

"I forgot about that," said Kuwabara thoughtfully. "Seems like it happened such a long time ago."

"Yusuke, how can a roof 'sort of' fall in?"

"Hagiri showed up and caught the rubble. So the good news is that none of us, or any of your stuff, is crushed."

"But on the other hand my apartment has no roof." Kurama ran a weary hand through his hair. "I'm too tired to deal with this. And I'm certainly too tired to find a new apartment before I fall over."

"Stay the night here, Kurama," Yukina offered. "Tomorrow you can sort all of it out."

"Just hope it doesn't rain, ow!" Yusuke winced as Kayko elbowed him.

"A bad time to be making jokes," she told him firmly. "And the longer all of us stand around talking the more exhausted we all get."

Which got the US group trickling down the stairs, heading for what would hopefully be the last trip through the portals. In the lead, Doctor and Twilight discussed the different merits of psychic healers verses demon healers, with Mengii listening in, behind them coming Mitari, Amanuma, and Hagiri.

"So are you going to be staying around for long?" Mitari asked Hagiri.

He shook his head. "No, I've got some business to deal with. America is just closer to where I need to get to."

"Where are you headed?" asked Amanuma curiously.

"South America." Replied Hagiri grimly.

The last down the stairs was Ricky, who glanced over Kurama. "We need to talk." She said, before leaving.

"She's been taking this pretty well, for a newcomer and all," commented Botan. "Most people go into shock and then there's no getting any sense out of them."

"Ricky was always rather unique." Kurama said. "This is going to be an interesting 'talk'."

And with that, the remains of the group that had gathered to rescue Kurama dispersed, Jin carrying his sleeping teammate inside, Yusuke and Kayko wandering off hand in hand, Botan and Kotori and Sai once more returning to Spirit World to tie up some loose ends, and Yukina and Kuwabara folding the blankets from the picnic and taking them inside.

Kurama sat on the first step of the temple with a sigh, he knew, without even looking, that Hiei was standing behind him. He propped his chin on his hands, looking down the steps with a thoughtful expression as the breeze grabbed locks of his red hair and threw it over his shoulders.

After a few minutes Hiei seated himself next to him, a small dark figure. "What's on your mind, now?"

The kitsune smiled, a slow, content smile. "I was just remembering. It wasn't that long ago that I was sure I had no friends in this world anymore. Of course, that was before the Sensui affair. This one too."

"And now?" Hiei asked.

"Now I think I'm an idiot."

"On the occasion, Fox. On the occasion."

"You weren't supposed to agree with me."

**--------------------------------------------**

"**If you are the sort who wonders what happens to characters after the end of a story, let me clue you in."**

**(The Misfits)**

**--------------------------------------------**

**Epilogue #1 Botan, Sai, Kotori**

**Spirit World**

**That Day**

**----------------------------------------------**

"Explain to me again why Kami is working for us?" Botan asked, as the three sat at one of tables in the library, jointly putting the finishing touches on the paperwork for their most recent expedition.

"She's insane, but useful." Kotori said. "Or at least, that's what Lord Koenma told me."

"Oh, boy." Sai rolled his eyes and slumped forward onto the table, resting his chin on his folded arms. "Just what we need, a nut working for us. Another crazy."

Kotori poked him. "What do you mean 'another'?" she demanded.

"Yeah," joined in Botan, poking him in the other arm. "What _do_ you mean?"

An extremely nervous Sai grabbed one of the papers from the table. "You know, err… we should really finish up this report. Yeah. Paperwork."

They looked at him with tremendous suspicion.

And some way away, Koenma sighed in relief that another crisis had been resolved _without_ him ending up in trouble with his father. For once.

**--------------------------------------------**

**Epilogue #2 Kuwabara, Yukina, Toya, Jin**

**Japan**

**Genkai's Temple**

**Two Days Later**

**----------------------------------------------**

Kurama and Hiei had left almost as soon as the kitsune had gotten eight hours sleep and many of the Temple inhabitants that had decided to steer clear of the place during the crisis was going on drifted back in the past day.

Smiling to herself, Yukina threw another handful of birdseed out into the eager sparrows. "It's so nice that things have calmed down now."

"Yeah," agreed Kuwabara, he was seated next to her, the two just enjoying each other's company.

"It seems so quiet without everyone here," Yukina went on, spilling the last of the birdseed from her hands.

The two of them watched Toya walk across the grounds, his pace oddly hurried. The reason became obvious when Jin came speeding up, floating about a foot over the grass. "Oi! Hey, Toya old-boy!" he called. "Are ya sure you should be up an' walkin' around? Why donna you come an' lie down some?"

"Go _away_!" Toya yelled back, breaking into an actual run. "I'm _fine_. Would you stop hovering?!"

"But Toya, ya need rest—"

"No."

Chu emerged from behind a tree, shaking a bottle at them. "Will you two shut up? I'm tryin' to enjoy bein' drunk over here."

"What he said," yelled Rinku from further away. "Put a lid on it!"

Kuwabara leaned back on his arms with a sigh. "Yeah… so quiet."

**--------------------------------------------**

**Epilogue #3 Twilight, Menou**

**America**

**Seattle**

**Three Days Later**

**----------------------------------------------**

Two women dashed around a corner and hurled themselves behind a pile of barrels, accompanied by a hail of bullets and balls of energy.

"That was fun," the butterfly demon, Menou, said, putting her hand on her chest as she breathed deeply; a run like that could wind even a demon. From inside her coat she drew a few knives, her rifle had been lost some way back.

"Yeah… just as fun… as sticking my finger… in an electric socket." Twilight muttered, hands on knees, wheezing. After a few moments she drew her gun.

The ones who had chased them had caught up.

"I'm too old to do be doing this saving the world thing," Twilight said, before they threw themselves back around the barrels and into the middle of a fight. "I want a vacation."

**--------------------------------------------**

**Epilogue #4 Kurama, Ricky**

**America**

**New York**

**One Week Later**

**----------------------------------------------**

_In many ways,_ Kurama reflected, _this has ended very like it started._ He and Ricky were sitting in an unmarked cop-car, sipping coffee, once more on stakeout. _We're lucky the Boss didn't demote the both of us back to traffic for disappearing on him._ The man's face, though, had been almost crimson with rage as he yelled at them. But unless Kurama was much mistaken, the secretly kindhearted man was mostly relieved to see that they hadn't turned up dead.

He sipped his long cold coffee. _Actually, this isn't quite how it started. There wasn't this awkward silence before._

"So." Ricky said.

The word was so unexpected he almost spilled his coffee, his partner hadn't said a word to him for all of the four hours they'd sat here.

"So?" he asked.

"So, Chi, what now? I mean," Ricky gestured between the two of them. "What now, as in regards to the two of us."

"Nothing I can really think of. Not much changes, its just Chi, with the truth being told."

She sighed. "You make that sound so simple. So you were a demon this whole time?"

"Yes." He watched her carefully, not sure what kind of reaction he was going to get. This wasn't exactly something he normally talked about.

But Ricky wasn't looking outraged, only thoughtful. "Why didn't you tell me? No, wait. Dumb question. It's probably not something you can bring up in normal conversation."

"Hello Ricky, nice morning isn't it? By the way, I'm a thousand year plus demon." Kurama quipped.

"Exactly. Wait, a_ thousand_? No offence, but you've aged pretty damn well. Let's see, you make stuff grow, I know that much, but do you do anything else?"

"Not really. Plants are enough. I did steal a lot of things. But that was a long time ago." He took off the lid of his coffee cup to check it was really empty and tossed it into the back seat.

"Thief, huh? I knew no one who could pick a lock like you could have been a straight A student all the time. What about your buddy, Hiei? He's a demon too?"

"Yes."

"You look more human than he does."

"I have… another form. My original one. This body was," Kurama tugged at his ponytail. "I supposed you could say it was assumed out of necessity."

"Can I see it? Your real body, I mean."

"…maybe one of these days."

"Sure."

He frowned at her. "Are you really alright with this? I'm a demon, an evil murderous thief who stole with pleasure and killed without mercy. I did things that would give you screaming nightmares for months and was considered so wicked Spirit World's own SDF sent an agent to eliminate me. I stole the form of a human and deceived an innocent woman into thinking I was her son for more than two decades. And knowing all of that, you are still fine with having a demon sitting next to you?"

"I am. And here's why. All that other stuff aside, your still the same Chi who I've worked cases with for years and bought me coffee and prodded me to do paperwork. You're still the same Chi who I trust to watch my back and still the same Chi who's smarter than everyone else I know put together. You're still the Chi who brought soup to me when I had the flu last winter and dragged me to the hospital when I got shot four years ago. And the same Kurama who had practically an army of people show up to drag him out of trouble. A little demon on your part and…" she pointed at her own cup, in its holder, and frowned. It rose an inch before settling back to where it previously had been. "… a little new power on my part isn't going to change anything."

"… thank you," he said after a few moments.

"Don't mention it."

They both leaned back into their seats and watched the streets outside their windows.

"I went out with my girlfriend last night."

"I thought you two broke up."

"We got back together. Anyway, guess what we did."

"I'd rather not."

"Hey, don't roll your eyes at me, demon-boy! We went out to a club and—"

"I don't want to know."

"And then had a lot to drink, then went home and—"

"Mercy, mercy!"

"No mercy for you, you're stuck in this car with me!"

**--------------------------------------------**

**Epilogue # 5 Yusuke, Kayko**

**Japan**

**Ukimura Diner**

**Four Weeks Later**

**----------------------------------------------**

"What about Yuuko?" Yusuke suggested.

"I don't know," Kayko looked down at her stomach, which was beginning to show a bulge. "I like Yuki. But only if it's a girl."

"So what do we do if it's a boy?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her back against him.

She smiled up at her husband. "Then we name him after you, of course."

**--------------------------------------------**

**Epilogue #6 Mitari, Amanuma, Hagiri**

**America**

**New York**

**Two Months Later**

**----------------------------------------------**

Both Amanuma and Mitari were walking back to their apartment from the latest training session with Mengii, which had gone exceedingly well. They'd decided not to take the subway, since it was a nice day and it wasn't very far to home.

Birds were chirping, or at least the occasional pigeon, the sky was blue, and the streets were crowded with people who were cheered considerably by the pleasant weather.

"I like how you made that little gremlin thing," Amanuma told Mitari. "Big is impressive, but small things you make with detail hold together better."

"But small is almost as hard sometimes. Less space." Mitari shrugged. "But the gremlin is more versatile than the dragon. I think if I concentrate a little more I can get fingers solid enough for it to pick things up."

"That'd be pretty cool. Maybe if you can get it working I can get it to move? We should ask Mengii next time. Oh, I've been meaning to ask," Amanuma grinned.

"If this is about your term paper, you're on your own."

"It isn't. Have you heard from Hagiri again?"

"Oh," Mitari dug in the book bag he wore. Every once in a while a much abused looking letter would arrive, like the one he held, just to let them know that their eccentric friend was still out there somewhere.

"Look at this," Mitari showed the other psychic the letter's return address, which said:

**_Middle of Some Damn Jungle, Brazil_**

And handed it to him so Amanuma could read the scrawled letter.

"hav 2 write fast sorry couldn't write sooner. E. still around so won't be back until I get him. hav had crappy luck so far (ha ha ha) got sick w/ some weird jungle thing, bit by snake, lost in jungle, ect. crappy, like I said. maybe be back around next month. if all goes well… which it never does.

-K. Hagiri

"So you think we're going tosee him anytime soon?" Amanuma asked.

"Probably not." replied Mitari.

**----------------------------------------------**

**Epilogue #7 Hiei, Kurama**

**Many Many Years Later**

**----------------------------------------------**

Shuichi Minamino disappeared without a trace one day.

An investigation by concerned colleagues threw up no leads and his partner was no help, Ricky Halash had died a few days previously of a heart attack.

The search by them and later by other authorities was long and extensive, but in the end turned up nothing.

He was gone, his apartment cleaned out, a new tenant in it already, and the owner of the building had no idea where the redhead had gone.

A two weeks later a the remains of body were unearthed in a park near Shuichi Minamino's apartment that matched his general description, though with the state of decomposition it was hard to tell.

And somehow Minamino's dental records had mysteriously gone missing so there was no way to officially confirm it, but the body wore his watch and was broadly his build; so it was concluded that this was the missing detective.

The case was closed. The human friends mourned the loss of two of their detectives in such a short time.

Though one detective, Mengii Montes, was heard to mutter: "Damn overdramatic kitsune."

**----------------------------------------------**

Around the same time what would soon be the two most infamous thieves in the Makai and Spirit World appeared.

One was recognized as the returned Youko Kurama, the other was the newly infamous Hiei Jaganshi.

Together the two would steal small shiny and valuable things worlds wide and no one was able to stop them.

Not that a great number of people were stupid enough to try.

----------------------------------------------

"**A life without pain,**

**Is a life without joy, without fun!" **

**(The Sun Will Shine Again~ Yu Yu Hakusho, Ending Song)**

**----------------------------------------------**

**END**


	25. Seeker Notes

**This is the chapter of notes that I promised, a load of things about Seeker and what went into it. I hope it doesn't get to tedious to read. Here we go:**

**1) PLOT**

**Plot Structure:**

My real problem after finishing 'Hunter' was finding another problem of epic enough severity that could make our happy gang get back together. I wanted Goki to show up again, mostly because he seems to be a bit forgotten in favor of Kurama and Hiei in the show, but I also knew that Goki was not a strong enough villain to carry the story all by his lonesome. Also he had less of a personal issue with Kurama and more of one with Yusuke so the whole 'Kurama disappears' part wouldn't have made much sense.

And I had just read several 'Karasu comes back' stories one right after the other which reminded me that I had wanted for a long time to see if I could get away with one of my own.

The backbone of this story was more Kurama finally coming to a decision about what he was going to do about the problem of choosing between the Makai and the human world. All the events the lead up to this influence his choice and in the end he sort if chooses both by staying for a while, then leaving.

**2) CHARACTERS**

**Canon Characters:**

**Kurama:**

In the same way that Sensui was the main character in the last fic without being in it very much, Kurama was in this one. So we didn't see too much of him. Which is a shame, because I like writing Kurama. However the inner mind scene was something that I wanted to write from the very beginning, it seemed very like him to be constantly playing chess against his inner self. Trying the keep Youko and Shuichi different and yet the same was challenging, but I enjoyed the end result.

**Hiei:**

He must be on one hell of an emotional roller coaster ride. First Kurama is snagged, then they think they've saved him and they've only made things worse. Ouch. But emotional response sticks to Hiei like rocks do to the ceiling, so we don't get too much of an opening to what's going on in that head of his. Every now and then there is a glimpse, however, like when he talks to Yusuke before the warehouse attack.

**Yusuke:**

Yusuke is an amazingly useful character. He's great if you need a strong character to lead a scene. He's also a fun person to play off Kurama because they complement each other nicely.

I kept having to push Kayko's dropping of the bomb back because I thought _that_ sort of news would only distract him from current events. Nothing like that to throw you off.

**Kuwabara:**

I try to pay Kuwabara due credit, and he does get some good lines. I made sure to put him on the distraction team because he's not the type to sneak around or stand around being backup. It was fun to have him in the group that smashes in and makes all kinds of noise.

**Toya- Jin:**

Now for a good part of the story, Toya is rather angry, which is a bit out of character for him. But I figured if one thing could really piss off Toya, it would be Jin getting hurt.

We don't see much of Jin, mostly it's because his accent is very difficult to do. Everybody liked him, it seemed, so I wish I had put him in more now.

**Hagiri:**

I for one was shocked at how much a main character Hagiri became. I don't think I realized how much I liked writing him until the beginning of this story. His power proved to be more useful than I could have thought, what with shards of glass and falling ceilings. Writing him evil was quite the treat too. It's amazing how much damage one inside man can do, if he's not caught in time.

The inside Hagiri's head scene was difficult to write, but he seems like a person on the run from a lot of things. There are a lot of loose ends left at the story's conclusion because I was trying to set up for the sequel in which Hagiri will definitely be.

**Amanuma:**

I always wanted to make a battle adaptable technique for Amanuma because while his control over video games is really cool, it's not too much good in a fight. The idea of him using a controller to puppet people came to me after watching a friend play video games for four hours straight and swear vehemently when a glitch made the character not jump when he shouldn't and fall off a building.

**Mitari:**

Mitari seemed less impulsive than Amanuma and more inclined to be the voice of reason. Which made his short trip on the motorcycle interesting to write, because it was actually a little out of character for him to do that, but then again, when your teacher has their soul taken, that just might do it. He and Amanuma again got grouped together a lot for the most part, because they seemed like they would get along really well, despite the age difference.

**Doctor/Kamiya:**

No insane-ness from Doctor this time, mostly because I kind of had it that things from Chapter Black are the trigger to his 'episodes'. And he was a real later-comer to the plot, I feel bad for using him mostly as a sort of first-aid kit on legs for Hagiri.

**Botan-Kayko-Yukina:**

Most of these ladies unfortunately either healed, cooked, or waited around. Which I feel rather bad for, but these three are not really fighters, so throwing them into danger usually wasn't feasible. And besides, healing is extremely important! Someone's gotta be able to put all the brave heroes back together again. Unfortunately, Shizuru was left out of this story; I had so many characters running around in different directions I didn't want another one making things even more confusing.

**Karasu:**

Probably one of the most difficult characters to write, with the exception of Jin (because of Jin's accent). A serious, dark, _scary_ villain is more challenging to write than a sarcastic, dark joker of a villain. Insane people are harder too, one wouldn't expect them to do something average and sensible, which is why Karasu's plan for revenge is a bit off kilter. What I really wanted to avoid was the sort of dark torture Kurama scene that tends to rear it's head in 'Karasu Comes Back' fics, which I wasn't completely successful at, some did sneak in. They're insidious like that. One fun thing was thinking up names for other characters to call him, most of which I never used because they were _too_ funny! Mad Bomber, Bomby Guy, Mr. Ka-boom, Purple Eyed Explosion Source, and so on; there was no way I could get away with using some of those!

**Goki:**

Goki always seemed like the opportunistic type to me. Or at least, from what little we see of him in the show. So it made sense to me to make him backstab Karasu when he got the chance. Loyalty doesn't seem to be Goki's style. He really stuck around for a lot longer than I expected him to, Yusuke says exactly what I was thinking when he catches up to him: "You're supposed to be a minor villain, you know!"

**Suzaku:**

Now there's a character with a bone to pick with Yusuke (hey, you killed me and ruined my plot to destroy your world!). When I looked back at the series to find villains to use, Suzaku at once jumped out at me as a good one to pick. His erratic power control was interesting to write, I wanted to make it clear that it was very difficult to bring back a powerful demon and have them be able to function.

**Non-canon Characters:**

**Mengii Montes:**

I have a habit of recycling characters from other stories I've written because these characters come with their own back-stories already completed. Some of the non-canon characters were made from scratch, like Ricky and Ebony, others, like Mengii here, are recycled.

Having a psychic who can find things is more useful than I thought it would be. These guys seem to loose a lot of stuff, don't they? Mengii's visions of the future seem to always kick off the beginning of the story; she always has something to hint at it seems. The only difficult part is tying that back into what actually happens!

**Ricky Halash:**

She certainly packs a punch, doesn't she? Ricky gets to have a much larger part this time than in the last fic. I think she's the type to take finding out about demons in stride. Sudden power eruption was a bit of a stretch, but I thought that there had to be some effects from hanging around a powerful demon all day. She and Kurama had a good dynamic though, it's a good thing they get along or all that surveillance would really suck.

**Twilight:**

Twilight is from a personal story and is a very forceful character, like Yusuke, which is why it was interesting to throw those two together. I thought that there should be an example of another type of Spirit Detective in a different country. It was certainly interesting to compare the two systems. Also imagine how irritating it must be to have to leave the attempt to rescue a friend for a mission, but still, duty calls!

**Kotori-Sai:**

Kotori lost a lot of that formality that made her rather annoying in 'Hunter'. I figured since she seemed to be heading toward loosening up at the end of the first fic she probably made some progress in the intervening years. Sai is enjoyable to write because he's so carefree, it was interesting to play him off his more serious partner.

**Ebony-Ivory:**

These are probably my favorite villains I've ever created from scratch; they were made just for this story. Though they changed a bit from what they originally were planned to be. At first they were going to be twin humans with incredible psychic powers but I decided that wouldn't work out half as well.

Ivory was never meant to be much of a villain in the first place; as sad as it sounds she was more someone to throw at the gang to keep them occupied for a while. Her Limbo powers came from the fact that I needed a reason for Yusuke not being able to snap her neck, Toya freezing her over, or Hiei incinerating her. Of the two, Ivory was the more impulsive and emotional.

Ebony was much more fleshed out, mostly because he stayed around for a longer time. His possessing power turned out to be much more important than I had thought it would, mostly because I needed that inside agent in Yusuke's team. His grief over Ivory really made him more human though, I think because he got to show some real emotion for once. He was very much in love with his partner, but Ivory was too distracted by the job to notice. I at first was going to have Ebony killed by Hagiri, right toward the end, but I decided against it later. That's not to say that Hagiri won't get some revenge, but it's sort of left as one of those things that are understood.

**Menou:**

The sassy sniper Karasu hires is another character that appears in my own story and she originally was supposed to just be a cameo, but I needed someone for Karasu to enlist to help him find Goki so Menou got to come back. I loved to write her heckling Karasu. Don't forget the one favor Hagiri still owes her, it'll come up again for sure in the sequel.

**Hitzen:**

A cameo character from a personal story, the owner of the Dojo where the portal in America is located. He seems to spend most of the time complaining that his portal is not an airport, I think all the people running back and forth really got on his nerves. It would certainly get on mine!

**3) BACKGROUD BITS**

Here's a few things that I couldn't find a place for, but are interesting.

I actually misread my notes about Goki's death, originally Toya was supposed to stab him, and then Karasu showed up, but by the time I realized my mistake the chapter had already been posted so I had to flip-flop the two events. But it seemed to have worked out.

At first the Interlude inside Kurama's mind was supposed to be at the most, half a page long, but it just kept _growing_.

The Root Cellar, the bar that Mengii and Mitari go to, will definitely appear again, it's actually from a person story, but was used when I needed a bar for them to go to for gossip.

**4) PAIRINGS**

**Yusuke-Kayko:**

Kayko and the baby was planned; originally she was going to tell him right around when they got Kurama's body back from the warehouse, but it kept getting pushed back. I think Yusuke will make a great father, just because he remembers what it's like to grow up without one. But I don't envy the kid, it'd be tough growing up as Yusuke Urameshi's son!

**Yukina-Kuwabara:**

In favor of plot tempo this one got thrown almost out the window except for some nice lines between them after Toya's poisoning. I just tried to write them comfortable and happy with the way things were but not yet willing to make it more complicated.

**Kurama-Hiei:**

I meant to get into this pairing, I really did, but when it gets down to it I don't like writing romance, no matter what the pairing. It's much easier to go on hints and allusions than saying things right out. Besides, those two are too stubborn to actually admit much right out! Especially Hiei.

**5) WHERE TO GO AFTER THIS**

The question that keeps coming up is: "Is there going to be a sequel?" And there is, just not quite like you might expect. Where as these last two have, in some manner, had similar plots to each other, this one will be slightly different, more like a side-story. Right now, the tentative title is '_Finder'_. There are three main plot lines I plan to cover simultaneously:

Amanuma and Mitari race to gather all the ingredients for the cure to Hagiri's curse before the hex kills him.

Meanwhile Menou, calls in her favor with an unsuspecting Hagiri.

Kurama fights a territorial battle for his new apartment with blows and brains with an older, stronger demon.

And of course most of our star cast will be making an encore, but whether Toya, Jin, Twilight, Doctor, Sai, Kotori, and a few others will appear is still up in the air. Stay tuned, it's coming soon!

Also a possible YYH and Harry Potter crossover that's been in the works for a while is in consideration along with another crossover of a more unusual nature. The two are still are bit iffy however. Some rewrites for my old stories too.

But, who knows? Maybe something will come along that I never even expected.

So thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed yourself. If you liked this story, I have other YHH fic and even some in the Dragon Knights series, take a look at them! See me, see me shamelessly promote my work.

Please continue to read my stories!

Bye!

**~Dane Soar**


End file.
